The Case against the Jones Act

by Colin Grabow (Editor), Inu Manak (Editor)

Overview

How has an archaic, burdensome law been able to persist for a century?

Passed in 1920, the Jones Act restricts the waterborne transport of cargo within the United States to vessels that are U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-built. Meant to bolster the U.S. maritime sector, this protectionist law has instead contributed to its decline. As a result, today’s U.S. oceangoing domestic fleet numbers fewer than 100 ships. Beyond leaving a shrunken and uncompetitive maritime sector in its wake, the law has also inflicted considerable damage on the broader U.S. public that range from higher transportation costs to increased pollution.

The chapters in The Case against the Jones Act delve into some of the act’s founding myths and the false narrative its supporters have helped to perpetuate. The book evaluates the law’s costs, assesses its impact on businesses, consumers, and the environment, and offers alternatives for a way forward. The Jones Act’s failures reveal that the status quo is untenable. Contributors to this volume hope that the evidence presented will spark discussion about the Jones Act and lay the groundwork for the repeal or significant reform of this outdated law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948647991
Publisher:	Cato Institute
Publication date:	06/11/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	541 KB

About the Author

Colin Grabow is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, where his research focuses on domestic forms of trade protectionism.
Inu Manak is a research fellow at the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. She is an expert in international political economy with a specialization in international trade policy and law.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

List of Illustrations

Foreword, by Anne O. Krueger

Introduction, by Inu Manak

Demystifying the Jones Act

1. The Jones Act: A Burden America Can No Longer Bear, by Colin Grabow, Inu Manak, and Daniel J. Ikenson

2. Three Myths about the Jones Act, by Rob Quartel

3. Rust Buckets: How the Jones Act Undermines U.S. Shipbuilding and National Security, by Colin Grabow

4. What the Trump Administration Can Learn from the Jones Act, by Bryan Riley

The Costs of the Jones Act

5. Dragging the Anchor: A Look at the Myriad Costs of the Jones Act, by Daniel J. Ikenson

6. By Land or by Sea: Does the Jones Act Cause Land-Based Transport Congestion?, by Thomas Grennes

7. The Environmental Case for Jones Act Reform, by Timothy Fitzgerald

8. A Shift Toward Murkiness: How Conflicting Transportation Policies Have Forced Unsupervised Oligopolies on Jones Act Trades in the Past 23 Years, by Manuel Reyes

9. The Jones Act: A Costly Failure, by Steve Ellis

10. Reform the Foreign Dredge Act to Create American Jobs and Save Taxpayer Money, by Howard Gutman and Andrew G. Durant

Reforming the Jones Act

11. Needed: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Jones Act, by Ted Loch-Temzelides

12. Time to Mobilize the Dispersed Costs of the Jones Act, by Nicolas Loris

13. Reforming the Jones Act for American Energy Consumers, by James W. Coleman

14. Why the Jones Act’s U.S. Citizenship Quota Should Be Repealed, by Daniel Griswold

15. Reforming the Jones Act: What the United States Can Learn from Canada, by Taylor Jackson

16. Updating the Jones Act for the 21st Century, by Keli‘i Akina

17. Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Historical Lessons for Reform, by Colin Grabow and Logan Kolas

Conclusion, by Colin Grabow

Notes

About the Editors

About the Contributors