Free Trade
by Dr. Mary Ruwart
The good doctor answers tough questions about free trade.
Free Trade
by Ludwig von Mises
"The theoretical demonstration of the consequences of the protective tariff and of
free trade is the keystone of classical economics. It is so clear, so obvious, so
indisputable, that its opponents were unable to advance any arguments against it that
could not be immediately refuted as completely mistaken and absurd."
Free Trade and Flexible Markets
by Christopher Mayer
"Flexibility means change and, for some people, a sense of uneasiness. It means that
we are not likely to stay in one job for 20 years and that we will have to upgrade
our job skills continuously. However, change is inherent in the real world. The
societies that have the most flexible economies are equipped to handle their changing
needs. They will grow, prosper, and change, while those anchored by political chains
or societal bonds will go through periods of struggle and suffering."
The Humanity of Trade
by Frank Chodorov
"Living without trade may be possible, but it would hardly be living; at best it would be
mere existence. Until the marketplace appears, men are reduced to getting by with what
they can find in nature in the way of food and raiment; nothing more. But the will to live
is not merely a craving for existence; it is rather an urge to reach out in all directions
for a fuller enjoyment of life, and it is by trade that this inner drive achieves some
measure of fulfillment. The greater the volume and fluidity of marketplace transactions
the higher the wage level of Society; and, insofar as things and services make for
happiness, the higher the wage level the greater the fund of happiness."
A Powerful Case for Free Trade
by Henry George
"While Adam Smith presented the best-known practical case for free trade, the most
powerful rhetorical case came from Henry George in his book
Protection or Free Trade (1886). Here are some of the most memorable passages."
Speeches on Free Trade (1841-1844)
by Richard Cobden
Speeches on Free Trade (1845-1853)
by Richard Cobden
We Need Free Trade In Deed As Well As Word
by Gary M. Galles
"Much of the economic success of the early United States was due to the fact that the
Constitution not only restricted the federal government’s ability to hurt some citizens
for the benefit of others (e.g., the takings, tax uniformity, due process, and equal
protection clauses), but also abolished states’ attempts to take advantage of each
other through restrictions on interstate commerce (the famous commerce clause). The
result was the world’s largest free trade zone. Everyone benefited, as neither the state
nor federal government could impose extra burdens on mutually beneficial trades just
because shipments originated across a state border."
What Is Free Trade?
by Frédérick Bastiat
In order to rob the public, it must be deceived. To deceive it, is to persuade it that
it is robbed for its own advantage; it is to make it accept fictitious services, and
often worse, in exchange for its property."
Trade and the Rise of Freedom
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
"Trade involves the exchange of property titles. Restrictions on free trade are
therefore an attack on private property itself and not “merely” a matter of
“trade policy.” This is why such great classical liberals as Frederic Bastiat spent
many years of their lives defending free trade. Bastiat, as much as anyone, understood
that once one acquiesced in protectionism, no one’s property was safe from myriad
other governmental acts of theft. To Bastiat, protectionism and communism were
essentially the same philosophy."
Free Trade: The Necessary Foundation for World Peace edited by
Joan Kennedy Taylor
reviewed by Roy A. Childs, Jr.
"This book is a call for us to step back from the brink of economic nationalism and
trade wars to consider what we are doing. It is concerned simultaneously with principles
and reality. And its authors focus clearly on some of the great issues of our time: world
hunger, foreign aid, international investment, unemployment and international conflict
are all seen through the eyes of principles that enable us to understand what is
happening to our world. In doing that, it makes a bold case for the re-examination of
the ideals we have so thoughtlessly abandoned: individual rights, private property,
economic freedom, limited government and free trade. In the nineteenth century these
ideals helped promote peace; in the twenty-first, perhaps they can do so again."
Free Trade vs. National Security: Is There Really a Contradiction?
by Ivan Eland
"The Bush administration’s refusal to look at the big picture and realize that
free commerce is also the best national security policy is puzzling and troubling. The
administration has realized the danger to the world of nuclear war in South Asia and
has supported the Indo-Pakistani peace process. Simultaneously, however, it is also
trying to block the peace pipeline, which would foster economic cooperation between
the two bitter adversaries, in order to carry out a petty vendetta against an Iranian
regime that poses only a limited threat to U.S. security. Clearer thinking about U.S.
security is needed."
Individual Freedom, International Trade, and International Conflict: Cobden Was Right
September 15, 2003
by Alex Robson
"The proposition that international trade in goods and services, factors of production,
ideas and cultures can increase mutual dependencies, reduce the possibility of
international conflict (by making it more costly), and allow individual freedom to
flourish can be found in the writings of Emeric Cruce, Francois Quesnay, David Hume,
Adam Smith, de Montesquieu, John Bright and, more recently, Ludwig von Mises. The English
statesman Richard Cobden, a principal architect behind the removal of Britain’s Corn Laws
in the mid-19th century, was also a powerful advocate of this idea. This paper applies
the insights of Austrian economists such as Hayek and von Mises to international affairs
and international rules of conduct, and argues that Cobden’s intuitive arguments regarding
foreign affairs, trade, and the progress of individual freedom were accurate. We then
briefly examine the most recent theoretical and empirical work by economists and
political scientists on the link between international trade and conflict. Most of the
formal theoretical work and empirical studies support Cobden’s position."
Globalization, Trade and the Poor
by Fred McMahon
"Anti-globalists would do well to remember that nations that were once poor, but opened
their borders to trade and adopted market reform, have emerged from poverty."
The Humanity of Trade
by Frank Chodorov
"The myth of "protectionism" rests on the notion that the be-all and end-all of human life
is laboring, not consumption-and certainly not leisure. If that were so, then the slaves
who built pyramids were most ideally situated; they worked much and received little.
Likewise, the Russians chained to "five year plans" have achieved heaven on earth, and
so did the workers who, during the depression, were put to moving dirt from one side of
the road to the other. . . .
Yet, if we base our thinking on the natural urge of the individual to better his
circumstances and widen his horizon, operating always under the natural law of
parsimony (the most for the least effort), we are compelled to the conclusion that
effort which does not add to the abundance of the market place is useless effort.
Society thrives on trade simply because trade makes specialization possible,
specialization increases output, and increased output reduces the cost in toil for
the satisfactions men live by. That being so, the market place is a most humane institution.
A Libertarian-style foreign policy: Why free trade equals prosperity
by Michael Tanner
Trade restrictions on foreign products lower the standard of living
for American consumers by about $752 per household per year.
Protectionism and the Destruction of Prosperity
by Murray N. Rothbard
"In the host of special interests using the political process to repress and loot
the rest of us, the protectionists are among the most venerable. It is high time that
we get them, once and for all, off our backs, and treat them with the righteous
indignation they so richly deserve."
What Free Trade Really Means
by Jeffrey Herbener
"American prosperity depends on enacting a policy of free trade at home and abroad. Just
as the states are forbidden to manage interstate commerce, the national government should
be forbidden to manage international commerce. Then the advantages of the division of
labor could be extended to Pennsylvanians and Virginians not just between themselves, but
with Germans and Japanese as well."
EU Trade Barriers Kill
August 2003
by Stephen Pollard, Alberto Mingardi, Cécile Philippe, and Sean Gabb
"A person dies every 13 seconds - usually in Africa - as a result of European trade
legislation. The study, which analyses the impact of EU trade regulations, holds EU's
protectionist policies culpable for perpetuating poverty in several African nations."
Freedom to Trade: Refuting the New Protectionism edited by Edward L. Hudgins
reviewed by Charles K. Rowley
"Free trade against protectionism is one of those few issues over which economists
have reached consensus. Free trade attracts the vote of the very large majority of
economists, whereas protectionism typically attracts the support only of those who
are paid mouthpieces for the special interests."
Free Trade to Benefit the Many - Not Fair Trade to Benefit the Few
by Dwight R. Lee
"If politicians could feel the gain of the unorganized many as intensely as they feel
the pain of the organized few, a large number of government restrictions on our
economic choices would be quickly eliminated. Restrictions on our ability to buy the
best products at the lowest prices, whether produced at home or abroad, would be among
the first to go."
A Petition
by Frédéric Bastiat
"This is the famous text through which Bastiat, with a ferocious sarcasm, exposes
to ridicule the protectionist State and all those who are in favour of
protectionism." - John Zube
Presumptuous Protectionism
by Manuel F. Ayau
"What may be legally bought and sold in the market is limited to legitimate private
property acquired by ones own effort or through voluntary exchange with others. Since
legal transactions are settled accounts, what is traded belongs to neither the government
nor the community. It is private property, and as such the owner can dispose of it at
his sole discretion, limited only by other peoples rights. Correct?"
Protectionism and Morality
by Robert W. McGee
While utilitarian approaches to trade have some value, and while utilitarian
arguments often --and rightly -- conclude that free and unrestricted trade
is the best policy, they do so for the wrong reason. This article points out
that the real reason why totally free and unrestricted trade is good is
because it is the only trade policy that does not violate individual rights.
Protectionism and the Destruction of Prosperity
by Murray N. Rothbard
"As we unravel the tangled web of protectionist argument, we should keep our eye on two
essential points: (1) protectionism means force in restraint of trade; and (2) the key
is what happens to the consumer. Invariably, we will find that the protectionists are
out to cripple, exploit, and impose severe losses not only on foreign consumers but
especially on Americans. And since each and every one of us is a consumer, this means
that protectionism is out to mulct all of us for the benefit of a specially privileged,
subsidized few – and an inefficient few at that: people who cannot make it in a free
and unhampered market."
Protectionism, Old and New
by Hans F. Sennholz
"Protectionism makes for strange bedfellows. It brings together big business and
big labor, politicians counting votes and government officials yearning for power,
sixteenth-century thinkers and twentieth-century economists. It unites many petitioners
for political favors and largess in a common cause against consumers and foreigners."
Protection or Free Trade
by Henry George
A strong defense of free trade.
Robot Protectionism
by Ernest G. Ross
"In essence, then, the fear that robots are anti-employment is an extremely short-range,
irrational fear, a descent into Ludditism. Robots are a part of a man’s technological
nature and his future. One cannot rationally object to their entrance into the
marketplace without simultaneously demanding that man deny the kind of being that he is."
Self-Sufficiency the Route to Poverty
July 16, 2003
by John C. Downen
"The anti-globalization crowd would have us keep our jobs to ourselves and deny
employment and export opportunities for poor people in developing countries. Neither
would they let us buy foreign goods because that takes jobs from people at home. Such
narrow-minded isolationism is mean in its consequences."
A Trade Policy for Free Societies: The Case Against Protectionism by Robert
W. McGee
reviewed by Joseph T. Salerno
"There are a few minor flaws in the book. For example, McGee's novel accounting
analysis of the trade deficit, presented in chapter 2, is not well grounded in economic
theory: it attempts to quantify and interpersonally aggregate the gains from trade
and conceives these gains as dependent on the gross profit rates of the participating
firms, which are arbitrarily assumed to be equal. Without this unrealistic assumption,
similar hypothetical arithmetic examples could easily be constructed that purport to
prove that “trade deficits are bad” for the United States. Overall, however, this book
is well worth a read by anyone, including the professional economist, seriously
interested in understanding and possibly contributing to the intensifying debate over
what constitutes an economically optimal—and ethical—trade policy for the United States."
Henry George and the Tariff Question
by Karen DeCoster
"Henry George's free trade principles also spawned the geolibertarianism
movement, a "political philosophy that holds along with other forms of libertarian
individualism that each individual has an exclusive right to the fruits of his or her
labor, as opposed to this product being owned collectively by society or the
community" (Wikipedia). Geolibertarianism (also known as geoanarchism) is, in a sense,
a branch of anarcho-capitalism, taking its tenets from Locke, Jefferson, and Smith."
A Lecture on Free Trade: In Connexion with the Corn Laws, Delivered at the White
Conduit House, on January 31, 1843
by Thomas Hodgskin
"Gentlemen, the cause of the League is the cause of truth and justice—the cause of
trade and honest industry. If you live by the sweat of your brow or the toil of your
minds, it is your cause. It is the cause of every industrious man, and every man who
wishes for freedom. Hasten, therefore, to secure its success. By your power is monopoly
maintained. In Britain public opinion gives the law to Parliament, and yours will be,
as it now is, the punishment; for the people are the victims of bad laws, and yours
will henceforth be the blame, should the Corn Laws be continued."
The Moral Aspect of the Protective Tariff
by David Starr Jordan
"To guarantee any one a reasonable profit is to do so at the expense of the rest. The
theory is one of injustice, whatever its result in practice."
Tyranny Unmasked
1821
by John Taylor
"An attack on the constitutionality of protective tariffs and other violations of the
original understanding of the Constitution, as seen by the leading spokesman for the
Jeffersonian 'Old Republicans'."
MFN Status, Trade Embargoes, Sanctions and Blockades: An Examination of
Some Overlooked Property, Contract and Other Human Rights Issues
by Robert W. McGee
This paper briefly examines the literature on MFN status, trade
embargoes and blockades, but goes beyond the normal utilitarian analysis
into some overlooked issues involving property and contract rights and
other human rights. Particular attention is paid to the use and possible
abuse of MFN status as applied to the People's Republic of China and
North Korea, and the trade sanctions against Cuba and Iraq. The paper
concludes that a mere utilitarian analysis is insufficient when
determining whether trade sanctions should be imposed on a country
whose behavior is deemed inappropriate by some segment of the
international community. Certain rights issues must also be considered.
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This page was last updated on July 12, 2007.