The Economic And Political Roots Of The New Protectionism

In this volume, the author presents the hypothesis that during the 19th and 20th centuries, political and industrial leaders of Western industrialized economics supported free-trade policies only as long as their production and sales were not threatened by significant foreign competition. When their economic hegemony was challenged, the same nations enacted protectionist measures. By integrating the historic and political factors that affected Western commercial policy in the course of two centuries, the author gives a broad perspective to the study of international trade in the 19th and 20th centuries and demonstrates the relevance of noneconomic variables in the economic history of this period.