This paper analyzes the effects of consumption and investment tarrifs on gr
owth and welfare. With endogenous laber supply, consumption tariffs are not
growth-neutral. Instead, an increase in either tariff reduces both the sho
rt-run growth rates of key economic variables such as GDP, consumption, and
foreign debt, and their common long-run equilibrium growth rate. Numerical
simulations suggest that the investment tariff has a more adverse effect o
n growth rates and welfare than does a comparable consumption tariff. Accor
dingly, a revenue-neutral substitution of a consumption tariff for an inves
tment tariff is both growth-enhancing and welfare-improving. The second-bes
t and first-best optimal tariffs are characterized and shown to involve the
heavy subsidization of investment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ
ts reserved. JEL classification: E62; F43; O20.