Interactive economics

Shockwave

What sealing your own border costs you. Pick a country, then drag the dial from open to sealed and watch the walls rise, and the losses with them.

Choose a view
25% 305% no data too small to draw drag to spin · scroll or pinch to zoom · click a country

shading = trade openness (exports + imports as a share of GDP)

    —

    —

    1Set the shock

    Set automatically from this country’s own current data.

    Tariffs ✓ backtested at +2.4pp

    —
    a tax on everything imported from

    Money leaving ◖ observed

    —
    investment relocating abroad

    Migration cap ◖ observed

    —
    arrivals blocked at the border
    each dial moves on its own · 0 = nothing changes
    0 = no change · only tariffs travel abroad · money and people hit home alone

    2Outcomes at this severity

    — of GDP

    “After shock” means one to two years out, compared with the same period if nothing had changed.

    2What the origin stops buying

    origin
    — of imports gone

    Every figure on this panel is one to two years out, against the same period with no shock.

    3Most affected

    Least affected, among the 30 largest economies

    First-order spillover accounting, goods trade only, not general equilibrium.
    Where the loss comes from
    distortion costlier inputs lost export value forgone investment lost labour
    The damage curve

    Every severity from open to sealed, run through the same engine. Hover to read any point; click to move the dial there.

    What you gained, what it cost

    Gained

    Tariff revenue—
    Protected-sector jobs—
    Terms of trade—

    Cost

    Wasted on distortion—
    Costlier imported inputs—
    Lost export value added—
    Forgone investment—
    Lost labour supply—
    What the answer hinges on