Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Against the Tide : An Intellectual History of Free Trade / Douglas A. Irwin.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©1996Description: 1 online resource (280 p.) : 14 halftonesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691213019
Subject(s): Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- PART ONE. Origins of the Free Trade Doctrine -- Chapter One. EARLY FOREIGN TRADE DOCTRINES -- Chapter Two. THE ENGLISH MERCANTILIST LITERATURE -- Chapter Three. THE EMERGENCE OF FREE TRADE THOUGHT -- Chapter Four. PHYSIOCRACY AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY -- Chapter Five. ADAM SMITH'S CASE FOR FREE TRADE -- Chapter Six. FREE TRADE IN CLASSICAL ECONOMICS -- PART TWO. Controversies about the Free Trade Doctrine -- Chapter Seven. TORRENS AND THE TERMS OF TRADE ARGUMENT -- Chapter Eight. MILL AND THE INFANT INDUSTRY ARGUMENT -- Chapter Nine. GRAHAM AND THE INCREASING RETURNS ARGUMENT -- Chapter Ten. MANOILESCU AND THE WAGE DIFFERENTIAL ARGUMENT -- Chapter Eleven. THE AUSTRALIAN CASE FOR PROTECTION -- Chapter Twelve. THE WELFARE ECONOMICS OF FREE TRADE -- Chapter Thirteen. KEYNES AND THE MACROECONOMICS OF PROTECTION -- Chapter Fourteen. STRATEGIC TRADE POLICY -- Conclusion: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF FREE TRADE -- REFERENCES -- INDEX
Summary: About two hundred years ago, largely as a result of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, free trade achieved an intellectual status unrivaled by any other doctrine in the field of economics. What accounts for the success of free trade against then prevailing mercantilist doctrines? And how well has free trade withstood various theoretical attacks that have challenged it since Adam Smith's time? In this readable intellectual history, Douglas Irwin explains how the idea of free trade has endured against the tide of the abundant criticisms that have been leveled against it from the ancient world and Adam Smith's day to the present. An accessible, nontechnical look at one of the most important concepts in the field of economics, Against the Tide will allow the reader to put the ever new guises of protectionist thinking into the context of the past and discover why the idea of free trade has so successfully prevailed over time. Irwin traces the origins of the free trade doctrine from premercantilist times up to Adam Smith and the classical economists. 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.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780691213019

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- PART ONE. Origins of the Free Trade Doctrine -- Chapter One. EARLY FOREIGN TRADE DOCTRINES -- Chapter Two. THE ENGLISH MERCANTILIST LITERATURE -- Chapter Three. THE EMERGENCE OF FREE TRADE THOUGHT -- Chapter Four. PHYSIOCRACY AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY -- Chapter Five. ADAM SMITH'S CASE FOR FREE TRADE -- Chapter Six. FREE TRADE IN CLASSICAL ECONOMICS -- PART TWO. Controversies about the Free Trade Doctrine -- Chapter Seven. TORRENS AND THE TERMS OF TRADE ARGUMENT -- Chapter Eight. MILL AND THE INFANT INDUSTRY ARGUMENT -- Chapter Nine. GRAHAM AND THE INCREASING RETURNS ARGUMENT -- Chapter Ten. MANOILESCU AND THE WAGE DIFFERENTIAL ARGUMENT -- Chapter Eleven. THE AUSTRALIAN CASE FOR PROTECTION -- Chapter Twelve. THE WELFARE ECONOMICS OF FREE TRADE -- Chapter Thirteen. KEYNES AND THE MACROECONOMICS OF PROTECTION -- Chapter Fourteen. STRATEGIC TRADE POLICY -- Conclusion: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF FREE TRADE -- REFERENCES -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

About two hundred years ago, largely as a result of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, free trade achieved an intellectual status unrivaled by any other doctrine in the field of economics. What accounts for the success of free trade against then prevailing mercantilist doctrines? And how well has free trade withstood various theoretical attacks that have challenged it since Adam Smith's time? In this readable intellectual history, Douglas Irwin explains how the idea of free trade has endured against the tide of the abundant criticisms that have been leveled against it from the ancient world and Adam Smith's day to the present. An accessible, nontechnical look at one of the most important concepts in the field of economics, Against the Tide will allow the reader to put the ever new guises of protectionist thinking into the context of the past and discover why the idea of free trade has so successfully prevailed over time. Irwin traces the origins of the free trade doctrine from premercantilist times up to Adam Smith and the classical economists. 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.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)