ABSTRACT
Protection is a persistent feature of economic policy in developed and developing countries alike. Australia and all of the original ASEAN countries except Singapore provide high protection for their manufacturing sectors. The question of the extent of industry assistance has a number of dimensions and each requires a different empirical measure. Competition amongst domestic producers may keep product prices below the 'international prices plus the tariff' which is conventionally assumed in the analysis of the effects of protection. For many purposes related to analysing the economic effects of assistance it is more important to estimate how restrictions on imports have changed the incomes of people supplying factors to an industry than it is to measure the effects on domestic prices. In public debate the claim may be made that a particular sector is receiving assistance, for example, as a result of a direct subsidy.
