The British Empire is recognised as the first ‘free trade nation’; trade liberalisation was specifically promoted since 1815 (Trentmann, 2008: 5). Specifically, the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the Navigation Act in 1849 ushered ‘laissez-faire’ system, since the industrial policy aimed to be the ‘workshop of the world’, which provided manufacturing goods produced in efficient and cheaper ways, so those laws were obstacle to expanding markets (Lacher and Germann, 2012: 103; Semmel, 1970: 11). With the ‘triumph of industry’ and naval supremacy as legacy of the industrial revolution, the Empire had enjoyed her enormous industrial comparative advantage in the global market, in spite of no comparative advantage in agricultural goods (Cain
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Britain’s free trade policy in the nineteenth century can be described as three aspects: an instrument of state power, the power of financial and mercantile groups and rational interests (Trentmann, 2008: 11). There are two attributions to the domination by the British Empire: the ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ empire (Semmel, 1970: …show more content…
Especially Britain assimilated the gold standard system in 1816; as the financial power became stronger in the domestic market, free trade had become an instrument to encourage foreign investment and sustain the City as the ‘world’s chief mart’ (Cain and Hopkins, 1987: 4). Particularly, in the late nineteenth century, Britain expanded markets to solve domestic fiscal issues (Cain and Hopkins, 1986: 523). Thus, the free trade policy was different from Cobden’s ideology; he considered that one-sided contracts would imply a protectionist dimension (Palen, 2014: 191). In fact, the feature of free trade policy of the British Empire seemed to gradually shift from a cosmopolitan dimension to mercantile and protectionist ones; overall, the imperialism of free trade appears to be the so-called trade
Britain’s free trade policy in the nineteenth century can be described as three aspects: an instrument of state power, the power of financial and mercantile groups and rational interests (Trentmann, 2008: 11). There are two attributions to the domination by the British Empire: the ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ empire (Semmel, 1970: …show more content…
Especially Britain assimilated the gold standard system in 1816; as the financial power became stronger in the domestic market, free trade had become an instrument to encourage foreign investment and sustain the City as the ‘world’s chief mart’ (Cain and Hopkins, 1987: 4). Particularly, in the late nineteenth century, Britain expanded markets to solve domestic fiscal issues (Cain and Hopkins, 1986: 523). Thus, the free trade policy was different from Cobden’s ideology; he considered that one-sided contracts would imply a protectionist dimension (Palen, 2014: 191). In fact, the feature of free trade policy of the British Empire seemed to gradually shift from a cosmopolitan dimension to mercantile and protectionist ones; overall, the imperialism of free trade appears to be the so-called trade