Corchón, Luis C.González-Maestre, M.2009-03-112009-03-112001Spanish Economic Review. 2001, vol. 3, nº 2, p. 81-961435-5477https://hdl.handle.net/10016/3794In this paper we study the optimal import policy in an oligopolistic market with a given number of quantity-setting firms. In the absence of fixed costs, we show that if the policy instrument is an import quota, the optimal policy is either free trade or autarky, while if the instrument is a tariff the optimal policy is neither free trade nor autarky. In the case of fixed costs, we show that contrary to the traditional protectionist argument, a restrictive import policy might increase domestic welfare by increasing domestic consumers’ surplus, instead of increasing domestic profits.application/pdfengThe original publication is available at www.springerlink.comImport policyoligopolyquotastariffsresearch articleL13F12F13Economía10.1007/PL00013589open access