Efficacy of U.S. Antidumping Duties: The Case of Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat

Abstract

Quantity-dependent and price-dependent Rotterdam conditional demand systems are estimated using annual data for 1990-2014 to determine whether an antidumping duty levied by the United States on crawfish imports from China was effective in protecting the domestic industry. Results from the quantity-dependent system suggest the duty was ineffective. The hypothesis that the duty had no effect on the demand for domestically-produced crawfish could not be rejected at any reasonable probability level. Results from the price-dependent model, on the other hand, provides some weak evidence that the duty may have been effective. The hypothesis that the duty had no effect on the domestic price of crawfish is rejected at the 10% probability level, but not the 5% level. The 90% confidence interval associated with the estimated parameter for the duty period suggests the effect of the duty on the domestic price of crawfish ranges from 5.1% to 63.78%.