The postwar era was characterized by unprecedented economic expansion. The growth in international trade contributed significantly to this expansion, the growth being the product of the reduction of tariff barriers. As protectionism increased in the 1970s and 80s, the use of non-tariff barriers rose dramatically. This book, first published in 1993, explores how the use of one such barrier, antidumping laws, influenced the US economy.

The problems of the U.S. steel industry have been a source of public controversy for over twenty years. The industry has grown substantially smaller since the 1960s and hundreds of thousands of steelworkers have lost their jobs. Some steel firms and many steel mills have shut down entirely,profoundly affecting regional economies based on steel and its related industries. An industrial transformation of this magnitude has inevitably given rise to efforts to identify its underlying causes. This book is a contribution to that effort.