The Rise Of Free Trade

Why was Britain the first country to opt for unilateral free trade 150 years ago? On 16 May 1846, the House of Commons voted to abolish tariff protection for agriculture - the famous 'repeal of the Corn Laws'. Britain then adhered to her free trade policy despite both her relative economic decline and the protectionist policies of her leading trade rivals, the USA and Germany.This four volume set examines and explains the contentious issues surrounding the policy shift to free trade and the subsequent persistence of that policy. This set provides a comprehensive collection of articles including previously unpublished material on nineteenth century British trade policy and a new and comprehensive introduction by the editor putting the material into context.

The Rise of Free Trade Imperialism seeks to uncover some of the intellectual origins of the imperialism of the classic period, the sources from which later theories of imperialism were constructed, and the character of the ideology which underlay the dismantling of the old colonial system and the construction of the Victorian Pax Britannica. The author discusses the development and diffusion of a number of the central arguments of the 'science' of political economy, from the standpoint of a historian rather than an economist, which were crucial not only to the construction of theories of capitalist imperialism, but also served as a spur both to efforts at colonization, and to establishing a British Workshop of the World.

Razeen Sally argues that international trade policy has lost its way. Trade policy has become disconnected from 21st century business and consumer realities. The World Trade Organization and free trade agreements have outdated negotiating models and yield diminishing returns. The world’s fastest growing economies are those in Asia that have embraced freer trade and global integration unilaterally, without waiting for trade negotiations. Hence, the priority should be bottom-up unilateral liberalization, with China’s opening to the world economy leading the way and setting the example for others in Asia and beyond. Liberalization should now focus more on domestic regulatory barriers. The post-Doha WTO will still be important, but more as a forum for strengthening trade rules than for driving further liberalization. The biggest danger, though, is complacency and “reform fatigue,” which threatens to halt globalization’s advance. Sally makes a vigorous case for the benefits of free trade and provides a penetrating analysis of the dangers confronting the world trading system. Inspired by the precepts of Adam Smith and David Hume, he sets out practical prescriptions for getting trade policy back on the rails as part of a refreshed agenda for freer trade and freer markets that is relevant to the rise of Asia and 21st century globalization. Informative; well-argued; and, above all, highly readable, this book is a stimulating contribution to the emerging debate on where trade policy should go in the post-Doha world.

This book analyses the fast spread of free trade agreements (FTAs) across the globe, their content and their economic impact. In the wake of Brexit and the new protectionism of President Trump, Melchior offers a timely assessment of key issues relating to FTAs. Dividing the world into seven major regions, he analyses world trade, the globalisation of FTAs and their role within and between the regions. Using a new world trade model, he then presents new evidence on the impact of trade agreements, the value of trade, the impact of China’s growth and the West’s industrial decline, and the role of reciprocity in trade policy. Covering rich and poor countries, commodity exporters and all of the world’s regions, he offers new and original insights about a number of pertinent issues facing today’s world.

This publication displays the menu for choice of available methods to evaluate the impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It caters mainly to policy makers from developing countries and aims to equip them with some economic knowledge and techniques that will enable them to conduct their own economic evaluation studies on existing or future FTAs, or to critically re-examine the results of impact assessment studies conducted by others, at the very least.

First published in 1905, The Rise and Decline of Free Trade is Cunningham's treatise on the reason behind the failure of the Free Trade movement in England. He opens with a discussion Economic Science, a newly established field that claimed to have the weight of scientific rigor behind its theories about the complex mechanisms running the economies of the world-economies that managed to run themselves to great effect before anyone had attempted to turn the systems into mathematical equations. But just as a true picture of economics must take into account many variables, so must Cunningham's account of the movement take into account the politics of the century in which the movement was prevalent. Readers with an interest in trade and English history will find this analysis-part economics lesson, part history lesson-thoughtful yet accessible. Scottish economist WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM (1849-1919) graduated first class in Moral Science at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1891, he became a professor of economics at King's College, London. He is also the author of The Use and Abuse of Money (1891) and Alien Immigrants to England (1897).

How did the rich countries really become rich? In this provocative study, Ha-Joon Chang examines the great pressure on developing countries from the developed world to adopt certain 'good policies' and 'good institutions', seen today as necessary for economic development. His conclusions are compelling and disturbing: that developed countries are attempting to 'kick away the ladder' with which they have climbed to the top, thereby preventing developing countries from adopting policies and institutions that they themselves have used.