Then there are the more subtle subsidies and protections.
Liebman, Jeffrey, and Richard Zeckhauser. "Simple Humans, Complex Insurance, Subtle Subsidies". NBER Working Papers 14330, September 2008.
He should also condemn the subtle protectionist measures — subsidies and domestic content legislation, for example — already used by the United States and many of our trading partners.
But these recovery measures come with a high risk of protectionism — not of the traditional sort in the form of higher tariffs, but the more subtle type like subsidies tied to local purchases that favor domestic industries at the expense of competitors in other countries.
Our economy is riddled with these subsidies, many of which are intentionally subtle and hard to detect".
Whats more subtle and therefore more interesting are the vast government subsidies.
Meanwhile, the biggest export nations -- Germany, Japan and China are doing all they can to protect their key industries in a variety of subtle and not so subtle ways (currency manipulation, direct subsidies, dumping, rigged bids, targeted R&D investments, etc).
Federal subsidies would have to be a consideration, although more subtle changes in our tax code and import rules could be tried to give the companies proper incentive.
Much of this achievement depends on subtle and clever political support to a delicate cultural ecosystem in which both public subsidy and private enterprise play their part.
The W.T.O., in addressing subtle, non-tariff barriers to trade, can trample on cherished liberal policies: export subsidies designed to help American workers, laws aimed at saving sea turtles from the nets of foreign fishermen.
