Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T08:30:19.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Myth of Free-Trade Britain and Fortress France: Tariffs and Trade in the Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

John Vincent Nye
John Vincent Nye
Affiliation:
The author is Assistant Professor of Economics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This examination of official commercial statistics suggests that the conventional wisdom regarding early free-trade efforts of Britain and France is wrong. French average tariff levels were, surprisingly, consistently below those of Britain throughout most of the nineteenth century, even after the abolition of the Corn Laws and before passage of the 1860 Treaty of Commerce. Previous scholarship has focused on French commercial policies covering a narrow range of items and has largely ignored the overall trade policies of both nations. This study moves us further away from stories of development and trade confined to a few “leading”sectors.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 23 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bairoch, Paul, “European Trade Policy, 1815–1914,” in Mathias, Peter and Pollard, Sydney, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of Europe (Cambridge, 1989), vol. 8: The Industrial Economies: The Development of Economic and Social Policies, pp. 1–160.Google Scholar
Brown, Lucy, The Board of Trade and the Free-Trade Movement, 1830–42 (Oxford, 1958).Google Scholar
Cameron, Rondo, A Concise Economic History of the World (New York and Oxford, 1989).Google Scholar
Clapham, John H, An Economic History of Modern Britain (Cambridge, 1952), vol. 2: Free Trade and Steel 1850–1886.Google Scholar
Davis, Ralph, The Industrial Revolution and British Overseas Trade (Leicester, England, 1979).Google Scholar
Dunham, Arthur, The Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce of 1860 (Ann Arbor, MI, 1930).Google Scholar
Fohlen, Claude, L'Industrie textile au temps du Second Empire (Paris, 1956).Google Scholar
France, , Administration des Douanes, Tableau Décennal du Commerce de la France, 1847–56 (Paris, 1858).Google Scholar
France, , Ministre de L'Agriculture, du commerce et des travaux publics, Enquête: Traité de commerce avec l'Angleterre (Paris, 1860).Google Scholar
France, , Direction Générale des Douanes, Tableau Général du Commerce de la France, 1869 (Paris, 1870).Google Scholar
France, , Administration des Douanes, Tableau Décennal du Commerce de la France, 1867–76 (Paris, 1878).Google Scholar
France, Archives Nationales AN F12 2484.Google Scholar
France, Archives Nationales AN F12 2525.Google Scholar
Francis, Alan D., The Wine Trade (London, 1972).Google Scholar
Gilpin, Robert, The Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Great, Britain, Customs Tarffs of the United Kingdom, 1800–1897 (Sessional Papers, House of Commons, 1898), vol. 85.Google Scholar
Imlah, Albert, Economic Elements of the Pax Britannica (New York, 1958).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (Princeton, 1984).Google Scholar
Levi, Leone, History of British Commerce (Shannon, Ireland, 1971 reprint of original 1880 edition).Google Scholar
Lévy-Leboyer, Maurice, and Bourguignon, Francois, L'Économie francaise au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1985).Google Scholar
McCloskey, Donald N., “Magnanimous Albion: Free Trade and British National Income, 1841–1881,” Explorations in Economic History, 2nd series, 17 (07 1980), pp. 303–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, Donald N., “The Industrial Revolution 1780–1860: A Survey,” in Floud, Roderick and McCloskey, Donald N., eds., The Economic History of Britain Since 1700 (Cambridge, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 87–102.Google Scholar
McCloskey, Donald N., “Reply to Peter Cain,” Explorations in Economic History, 2nd series, 19 (04 1982), pp. 208–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marczewski, Jean, “Le Produit physique de l'économie franˇaise de 1789 à 1913,” Cahiers de l'ISEA, AF 4 (07 1965), pp. vii–cliv.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R., European Historical Statistics 1750–1970 (New York, 1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moniteur Industriel, le (Paris, 07 6, 1856).Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel A., The Economics of the Industrial Revolution (New York, 1985).Google Scholar
Nye, John Vincent, “Revisionist Tariff History and the Theory of Hegemonic Stability” (Political Economy Working Paper No. 142, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1990).Google Scholar
O'Brien, Patrick and Keyder, Caglar, Economic Growth in Britain and France, 1780–1914 (London, 1976).Google Scholar