Quotas and importer firms

Hey guys, there is an example question just after the quotas section (e.g. 6, q5.) that mentions that a quota may be better for a firm that imports goods than a tariff. It says that this is because an importer may be able to capture some of the quota rents (which they couldn’t do with a tariff).

However, it doesn’t explain how the importer may do that. The text explains that the exporter can capture it by raising prices or the importing countries government may capture it by selling import licenses, but it doesn’t mention any ways that an importing firm could do it. I find it a bit weird that they have example questions on information not covered in the text. Any examples of how an importer could capture the quota rents would be much appreciated.

I think that it’s the government that actually captures the quota rent, not the importing firm. Actually, tariffs and quotas may result in the same gains for the government. On the one hand, a tariff is like a tax captured by the government. If the quota rent go to the government of the importing firm, it has the same effect has a tariff. If quota rent is captured by the exporting country, then a quota is actually worse than a tariff in terms of hte importing country’s welfare.