Abstract
On March 27, 1846, the House of Commons voted to repeal the Corn Laws by a vote of 327 to 229 (Thomas, 1929, p. 57). The repeal of the import duties on corn (meaning cereals, including wheat, oats, and barley) was one of the most significant economic events of the nineteenth century. This action has long interested economists because it represents one of the few apparently unambiguous examples of the influence of economic theory, specifically, the theory of comparative advantage, on economic policy. Free trade policies were enacted by Parliament “in the end due to the devoted efforts of a few men who dedicated themselves to spread the message” of the relationship between free trade and economic efficiency (Hayek, 1978, p. 128).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson, G.M., and Tollision, R.D. “A Rent-Seeking Explanation of the British Factory Acts.” In: D.C. Collander, (ed.), Neoclassical Political Economy. Cambridge, Mass., 1984.
Apjohn, L. Richard Cobden and the Free Traders. Glasgow, 1881.
Ausubel, H. John Bright: Victorian Reformer. New York, 1966.
Barnes, D. G. A History of the English Corn Laws from 1660–1846. New York, 1965.
Becker, G. S. “A Theory of Competition Among Interest Groups for Political influence.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 98 (1983): 371–400.
Bloomfield, A. I. “The Impact of Growth and Technology on Trade in Nineteenth
Century Britain.“ History of Political Economy 10 (1978): 608–635.
Boyson, R. The Ashworth Cotton Enterprise: the Rise and Fall of a Family Firm, 1818–1880. Oxford, 1970.
Demsetz, H. Economic, Legal, and Political Dimensions of Competition. New York, 1982.
Ellison, T. The Cotton Trade of Great Britain. New York, 1968.
Farnie, D. A. 1929. The English Cotton Industry and the World Market. 1815–1896. Oxford, 1929.
Fetter, F.W. The Economist in Parliament, 1780–1868. Durham, N.C., 1980.
Gatrell, V.A.C. “Labour, Power, and the Size of Firms in Lancashire Cotton in the Second Quarter of the Nineteenth Century.” Economic History Review 30 (1977): 95–139.
Gordon, H.S. “The Ideology of Laissez-Faire.” In: A. W. Coats (ed.), The Classical Economists and Economic Policy. London, 1971.
Grampp, W. D. The Manchester School of Economics, Stanford, Ca, 1960. “Economic Opinion when Britain Turned to Free Trade.” History of Political Economy 14 (1982): 496–520.
Halevy, E. A History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century-Vols. 3 and 4. New York, 1961.
von Hayek, F. A. Denationalization of Money. London, 1978.
Hollander, S. The Economics of David Ricardo. Toronto, 1979.
Hueckel, G. “Agriculture during Industrialization.” In: R. Floud, and D. McCloskey (eds.). The Economic History of Britain Since 1700, Vol. 1. Cambridge, 1981.
Keynes, J. M. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. New York, 1964.
Lloyd-Jones, R., and LeRoux, A. A. “The Size of Firms in the Cotton Industry: Manchester 1815–1841” Economic History Review 33 (1980): 72–82.
Kindleberger, C.P. “The Rise of Free Trade in Western Europe, 1820–1875.” Journal of Economic History 35 (1975): 20–55.
Marvel, H. P “Factory Regulation: A Reinterpretation of Early English Experience.” Journal of Law and Economics. 20 (1977): 379–402.
McCloskey, D.M. Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain. New York, 1981.
McCord, N. The Anti-Corn Law League, 1838–1846. London, 1968.
McCormick, R. E., and Tollision, R. D. Politicians, Legislation, and the Economy. Boston, 1982.
von Mises, L. Human Action. New York, 1966.
Peltzman, S. “Toward a More General Theory of Regulation.” Journal of Law and Economics 2 (1976): 211–240.
Pincus, J. J. Pressure Groups and Politics in Antebellum Tariffs. New York, 1977.
Prentice, A. History of the Anti-Corn Law League, Vol. 2. New York, 1968.
Read, D. Cobden and Bright. New York, 1968.
Robbins, K. John Bright. London, 1979.
Robertson, W. The life and Times of John Bright. New York, 1889.
Scheiber, H.N.; Vatter, H. G.; and Faulkner, H.U. American Economic History. New York, 1976.
Semmel, B. The Rise of Free Trade Imperialism. Cambridge, 1970.
Slosson, P.W. The Decline of the Chartist Movement. New York, 1980.
Silver, A. W. Manchester Men and Indian Cotton 1847–1872. Manchester, 1966.
Smith, G.B. “Free Trade.” In: H. Higgs (ed.), Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy, Vol. 62. London, 1925.
Stigler, G.J. “The Theory of Economic Regulation.” Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science 2 (1971): 3–21.
Stigler, G.J. “Do Economists Matter” In: The Economist as Preacher and Other Essays. Chicago, 1982.
Thomas, J. A. “The Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846.” Economica 9 (1929): 53–60.
Ward, J.T. The Factory Movement, 1830–1855. London, 1962.
West, J. A History of the Chartist Movement. New York, 1920.
Witmer, H. E. The Property Qualifications of Members of Parliament. New York, 1968.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Anderson, G.M., Tollison, R.D. (1988). Ideology, Interest Groups, and the Repeal of the Corn Laws. In: Rowley, C.K., Tollison, R.D., Tullock, G. (eds) The Political Economy of Rent-Seeking. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1963-5_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1963-5_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5200-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-1963-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive