Table of Contents; Ellen Frankel Paul, Laissez Faire in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Fact or Myth?: Library of Economics and Liberty

Laissez Faire in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Fact or Myth? by Ellen Frankel Paul 1980. Originally published in Literature of Liberty, vol. iii, no. 4 Winter 1980, Institute for Humane Studies. Republished with permission of original copyright holders.
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
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