Protection or Free Trade - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Protection or Free Trade: An Examination of the Tariff Question with Especial Regard to the Interests of Labor (1886) was a book written by 19th century economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

and social philosopher, Henry George

Henry George

Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...

(September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897).

As the title suggests, George examined the debate between protectionism

Protectionism

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...

and free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

The table of contents for Protection or Free Trade are as follows:

Chapter 1 — Introductory
Chapter 2 — Clearing Ground
Chapter 3 — Protection as a Universal Need
Chapter 4 — Trade
Chapter 5 — Protection and Producers
Chapter 6 — Tariffs for Revenue
Chapter 7 — Tariffs for Protection
Chapter 8 — The Encouragement of Industry
Chapter 9 — Exports and Imports
Chapter 10 — Confusions Arising from the Use of Money
Chapter 11 — Do High Wages Necessitate Protection?
Chapter 12 — Of Advantages and Disadvantages as Reasons for Protection
Chapter 13 — Protection and Producers
Chapter 14 — Protection and Wages
Chapter 15 — The Abolition of Protection
Chapter 16 — Inadequacy of the Free Trade Argument
Chapter 17 — The Real Strength of Protection
Chapter 18 — The Paradox
Chapter 19 — The Robber that Takes All that is Left
Chapter 20 — True Free Trade
Chapter 21 — Free Trade and Socialism
Chapter 22 — Practical Politics
Chapter 23 — Appendices

"True free trade"

George defended what he considered "true free trade". For George, this required free trade to be coupled with the treating of land

Land (economics)

In economics, land comprises all naturally occurring resources whose supply is inherently fixed. Examples are any and all particular geographical locations, mineral deposits, and even geostationary orbit locations and portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Natural resources are fundamental to...

as common property:

Free trade means free production. Now fully to free production it is necessary not only to remove all taxes on production, but also to remove all other restrictions on production. True free trade, in short, requires that the active factor of production, Labor, shall have free access to the passive factor of production, Land. To secure this all monopoly of land must be broken up, and the equal right of all to the use of the natural elements must be secured by the treatment of the land as the common property in usufruct of the whole people.

Table of contents

"True free trade"

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