ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Norwegian commercial policy and production allowed it to exploit international markets to 'trade up' in the international community. It aims to address two issues that underlie the empirical description that follows. The first has to do with role of trade in a country's development strategy. The second has to do with deciding which goods a country should decide to trade. Most modem trade theory builds on David Ricardo's The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Anton Martin Schweigaard helped to reshape Norwegian tariff regime in 1842 and set Norwegian commercial policy on a more liberal course. In 1865, tariffs constituted 81 percent of central government's tax and duty incomes. Even at the end of the period, after a half century of trade liberalization, tariffs still represent almost 50 percent of this revenue source. Another trend worth noting is the fact that the value of Norway's imports in 1880s began to exceed the value of its exports.
