Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade - Hardcover

Irwin, Douglas A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691011389 ISBN 13: 9780691011387

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1996

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

The topic of "free trade" is more dense and complex than is usually presented in political debate or in the slogans or bumper stickers that these days often suffice for political discourse. Douglas A. Irwin, a professor of business at the University of Chicago, helps add depth to the discussion with this sweeping study of the business of trade between nations. He begins with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and carries through to some of history's greatest thinkers on the topic of free trade. He shows "how free trade came to occupy ... a commanding position in economics and how free trade has maintained its intellectual strength ... over the past two centuries." It is a timely and needed book.

From the Back Cover:

"This is a useful and valuable book that brings together a wide range of historical arguments for and against free trade. It may keep many an analyst of trade policy from the need to reinvent the wheel."--Jerry Z. Muller, Catholic University of America

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0691011389
• ISBN 13: 9780691011387
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274