Against the Tide
An Intellectual History of Free Trade

Explains how the idea of free trade has endured against the tide of the criticisms that have been leveled against it from the ancient world and Adam Smith's day. This book allows the reader to put the guises of protectionist thinking into the context of the past and discover why the idea of free trade has so successfully prevailed over time.

In lucid and careful terms he shows how Smith's compelling arguments in favor of free trade overthrew mercantilist views that domestic industries should be protected from import competition. Once a presumption about the economic benefits of free trade was established, various objections to free trade arose in the form of major arguments for protectionism, such as those relating to the terms of trade, infant industries, increasing returns, wage distortions, income distribution, unemployment, and strategic trade policy. Discussing the contentious historical controversies surrounding each of these arguments, Irwin reveals the serious analytical and practical weaknesses of each, and in the process shows why free trade remains among the most durable and robust propositions that economics has to offer for the conduct of economic policy.

List of Illustrations Ch. 1Early Foreign Trade Doctrines Ch. 2The English Mercantilist Literature Ch. 3The Emergence of Free Trade Thought Ch. 4Physiocracy and Moral Philosophy Ch. 5Adam Smith's Case for Free Trade Ch. 6Free Trade in Classical Economics Ch. 7Torrens and the Terms of Trade Argument Ch. 8Mill and the Infant Industry Argument Ch. 9Graham and the Increasing Returns Argument Ch. 10Manoilescu and the Wage Differential Argument Ch. 11The Australian Case for Protection Ch. 12The Welfare Economics of Free Trade Ch. 13Keynes and the Macroeconomics of Protection Ch. 14Strategic Trade Policy Conclusion: The Past and Future of Free Trade References Index