Perels’s literature review examines German tariff controversies and Austrian export policy, connecting economic arguments with political purposes and administrative consequences. It distinguishes the scholarly value of an investigation from the persuasiveness of its policy conclusions: research can clarify a controversy without resolving the commitments underlying protectionism and free trade.
Karl Diehl’s treatment of grain duties receives the fullest attention. Perels locates its particular contribution in its engagement with Brentano:
Ein besonderes Interesse kommt ihr deshalb zu, weil Diehl sich bemüht, Brentanos Denkschrift über die Getreidezölle einer objektiven Kritik zu unterziehen.
English translation: A particular interest attaches to it because Diehl endeavours to subject Brentano's memorandum on the grain tariffs to an objective critique.
Perels appreciates Diehl’s effort to distinguish scientific inquiry from personal conviction, but warns that officials attending his lectures might mistake scholarly reasoning for conclusive justification of protectionism. Diehl’s position incorporates objections commonly associated with his opponents:
Diehl nimmt indessen keinen Anstand, in mancher Beziehung trotz seiner grundsätzlichen Stellungnahme für die Getreidezölle den freihändlerischen Standpunkt zu akzeptieren.
English translation: Diehl, however, takes no exception to accepting the free-trade standpoint in many respects, despite his position of principle in favour of the grain tariffs.
Diehl accepts that grain duties raise grain and bread prices, are not borne by foreign suppliers, and can inflate land values. His defense therefore turns toward agricultural stability and the preservation of peasant cultivation rather than denying protection’s costs. This reasoning extends into settlement policy:
Von der Feststellung, daß die Agrarzölle für die Erhaltung und Vermehrung der bäuerlichen Betriebe nützlich und notwendig seien, gelangt Diehl zu dem Problem der inneren Kolonisation.
English translation: From the finding that the agricultural tariffs are useful and necessary for the preservation and increase of peasant holdings, Diehl proceeds to the problem of internal colonization.
The relationship between grain prices and wages, alongside support for agricultural duties from some social-democratic writers, complicates a simple opposition between agrarian and industrial interests. Perels nevertheless maintains that economic evidence cannot itself settle the conflict between nationalist and internationalist priorities or compel acceptance of Diehl’s conclusions.
Friedrich Beckmann’s study of import certificates presents a related tension between extensive research and a producer-centered commitment to protecting national labor. Beckmann would retain the certificates’ balancing function between eastern and western production while curbing artificially stimulated rye and oat exports. Restricting their use to imports of the same grain would, he argues, encourage wheat and fodder cultivation and reduce fiscal losses. Perels tests this proposal against labor shortages, obstacles to changing cultivation, commercial risks, and limited consumer benefits. Practical scrutiny takes precedence over doctrinal endorsement.
Administrative feasibility likewise structures the notice of Lissner’s proposed ad valorem duties on luxury goods. Experience with tobacco taxation cannot automatically establish the practicability of valuation for more complex goods with less transparent prices. Perels nonetheless considers the proposal relevant to Austrian trade policy, particularly alongside challenges to most-favored-nation treatment.
The paired discussion of Kautsky and the anonymous Grundfragen unserer Handelspolitik shifts toward political persuasion. Against the background of Reichstag elections and the approaching expiration of trade treaties in 1917, these pamphlets contrast socialist tariff reduction with protection of national labor. Perels finds the protectionist text more effectively arranged for agitation, while observing that Kautsky subordinates trade policy to proletarian organization. Zeckendorf’s collected barley-tariff articles receive a less favorable assessment: their brewing-industry perspective and failure to incorporate developments since 1909 limit their usefulness.
R. Pantzer’s export study prompts a distinction between technical refinement and economic value. Perels criticizes its cumbersome conceptual discussion and insufficiently established prediction of crisis, but values its statistical analysis. A growing manufactured share of exports can accompany a declining average value per ton because technical improvement also lowers production costs. Export composition, labor intensity, and unit value are therefore not interchangeable measures of progress.
The closing notices emphasize policy research’s documentary infrastructure. Austrian Industrial Council proceedings preserve proposals, responses, resolutions, and otherwise elusive statistics that could inform export promotion. The Austrian Export Association’s anniversary memorandum records institutional achievements and mistakes despite its ceremonial emphasis. A German compilation of Austro-Hungarian customs and commercial law earns praise for organizing dispersed provisions. Perels thus concludes by stressing accessible documentation, statistical discrimination, and legal clarity as foundations for practical policy judgment.
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