A History of English Corn Laws


Book Description

First Published in 2005. A history of the English Corn Laws 1660-1846 is part of the studies in Economic and Social History series and looks at how the Corn Laws regulated the internal trade, exportation and importation and market development from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries.




The People's Bread


Book Description

Formed in 1839, the Anti-Corn Law League was one of the most important campaigns to introduce the ideas of economic liberalism into mainstream political discourse in Britain. Its aspiration for free trade played a crucial role in defining the agenda of nineteenth-century liberalism and shaping the modern British state. Its faith in the free market still resonates in Britain's public policy debates today. This is the first comprehensive study of the League which makes use of recent methodological developments in social history.







The Rise of Free Trade: Assault on the Corn Laws, 1838-1846


Book Description

Why was Britain the first country to opt for unilateral free trade 150 years ago? On 16 May 1846, the House of Commons voted to abolish tariff protection for agriculture - the famous 'repeal of the Corn Laws'. Britain then adhered to her free trade policy despite both her relative economic decline and the protectionist policies of her leading trade rivals, the USA and Germany.This four volume set examines and explains the contentious issues surrounding the policy shift to free trade and the subsequent persistence of that policy. This set provides a comprehensive collection of articles including previously unpublished material on nineteenth century British trade policy and a new and comprehensive introduction by the editor putting the material into context.