Britain contrary to received wisdom wasnot a free trader for most of the 1800s and, despite repealof the Corn Laws, continued to have higher tariffs than theFrench until the last quarter of the century. War with Louisfourteenth from 1689 led to the end of all trade betweenBritain and France for a quarter of a century. The creationof powerful protected interests both at home and abroad ledto the imposition of prohibitively high tariffs on Frenchimports notably on wine and spirits, when trade with Franceresumed in 1714. Protection of domestic interests fromimport competition allowed the state to raise domesticexcises which provided increased government revenues despitealmost no increases in the taxes on land and income inBritain. The state ensured compliance not simply through thethreat of lower tariffs on foreign substitutes but alsothrough the encouragement of a trend towards monopolyproduction in brewing and restricted retail sales of beer.This history is analyzed in terms of its effects on Britishfiscal and commercial policy from the early 1700s to the endof the nineteenth century. The result is a fuller, albeitrevisionist account of the rise of the modern state thatcalls into question a variety of theses in economics andpolitical science that draw on the naive view of a liberalBritain unilaterally moving to free trade in the nineteenth century.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
