beggar-my-neighbour policy meaning

Noun: beggar-my-neighbour policy
Usage: Brit, Cdn (=beggar-my-neighbor policy)

1. A policy of promoting oneself at the expense of others; used especially of national policy
   "the United States has pursued a beggar-my-neighbour policy"
   - beggar-my-neighbor policy [US], beggar-my-neighbor strategy [US], beggar-my-neighbour strategy [Brit, Cdn]

Derived forms: beggar-my-neighbour policies

Type of: policy

[Economics]
A policy that seeks benefits for one country at the expense of others. Such a policy tries to cure an economic problem in one country by means which tend to worsen the problems of other countries. (Some authors use the term ‘beggar-thy-neighbour’: the meaning is identical). The term was originally devised to characterize policies of trying to cure domestic depression and unemployment by shifting effective demand away from imports onto domestically produced goods, either by the use of tariffs and quotas on imports, or by competitive devaluation. More recently, beggar-my-neighbour policy has taken the form of reducing domestic inflation through currency appreciation. This improves the terms of trade and thus reduces cost-inflationary pressure in the appreciating country, but tends to increase cost inflation in the country's trading partners.