Cover

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Scholarly Debate over British Laissez Faire

I. The Economic Policies of the Classical Economists

II. The "Age of Laissez Faire" and Benthamism

A. Was There an "Age of Laissez Faire?"

The Counter-Revisionists' Case for an "Age of Laissez Faire"

B. What Effect Did the Benthamites Have on the Politics of Their Day?

III. Conclusion

Bibliography

Articles

EconLog

EconTalk

Books

Encyclopedia

Guides

"Laissez Faire in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Fact or Myth?"

A selected essay reprint

Home
| Books
| Paul
| Selected essay reprint

Paul, Ellen Frankel

Editor/Trans.

First Pub. Date

Winter 1980

Publisher/Edition

Literature of Liberty. Vol. iii, no. 4, pp. 5-38. Arlington, VA: Institute for Humane Studies

Pub. Date

1980

Comments

PRINT EMAIL CITE COPYRIGHT

Start

2 of 5

End

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Table of Contents
Introduction: The Scholarly Debate over British Laissez Faire I. The Economic Policies of the Classical Economists Robbins's Distinction of Two Individualist Moral Traditions: Natural Rights vs. Utilitarian Adam Smith: Naturalism and Laissez Faire Ricardo and Malthus: Interventionism vs. Laissez Faire Bentham: Utilitarian Erosion of Laissez Faire Mill and Utilitarian Collectivism Mill's Interventionism: The Split Between Production and Distribution Mill's Socialist Sympathies Cairnes and Sidgwick: The Split Between Laissez Faire and Economic Science The Manchester School and Free Trade: Richard Cobden and John Bright Pure Laissez Faire: Martineau, the Journals, and Political Economy II. The "Age of Laissez Faire" and Benthamism Dicey vs. the Revisionists on the Reality of Nineteenth-Century British Laissez Faire and the Significance of Benthamism Dicey's Thesis: Benthamism's Role in Laissez Faire Brebner's and the Revisionists' Critique of Dicey A. Was There an "Age of Laissez Faire?" Brebner's Critique of the "Myth" of Laissez Faire MacDonagh and the Interventionist "Governmental Revolution" Roberts's Attribution of the Rise of the Administrative State to Ad Hoc Responses to Industrialism Gordon's Distinction Between Laissez Faire and Free Trade Burn's "Age of Equipoise": Localism vs. Centralization Anti-Laissez-Faire Legislation The Counter-Revisionists' Case for an "Age of Laissez Faire" Taylor's Case for an Era of Relative Laissez Faire Crouch on "Refined" Laissez Faire and "Enlightened Interventionism" The Final Judgment on Britain's "Age of Laissez Faire" Spengler: Why Laissez Faire Leaves Few Tracks B. What Effect Did the Benthamites Have on the Politics of Their Day? Brebner's Revisionist Indictment of Benthamite Collectivism Roberts and MacDonagh: "A Tory Interpretation" vs. Brebner Roberts's Case Against the Importance of Benthamism for Collectivism Hart's Critique of the MacDonagh-Roberts "Tory Interpretation" Parris's Reassertion of the Link Between Benthamism and Collectivism The Final Judgment on the Role of Benthamism III. Conclusion Britain's Slide to Statism and Imperialism: Collectivism or Liberalism? Herbert Spencer's Account of Britain's "Rebarbarization" Various Factors Contributing to Anti-Laissez Faire Is the Drift from Capitalism to Socialism Inevitable? The Final Verdict on the Demise of Laissez Faire: Utilitarianism vs. Natural Rights
Bibliography
Footnotes

Return to top

The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.

Contact Site Map Privacy and Legal http://www.econlib.org