Against the Tide

Douglas A. Irvin Against the Tide

An Intellectual History of Free Trade

Princeton University Press 1996 xi + 265 pp $29.95/L22.50 (cloth).

With his book The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith turned the tide of opinion regarding the use of import tariffs and other trade restrictions. The structure of the debate since Smith, Professor Irwin observes, has reflected the presumption that those who advocate restrictions on trade bear the burden of demonstrating how such policies would serve the national interest.

Since Smith, a major theoretical argument for protection has surfaced every few decades, each sparking a controversy over the case for free trade. The analytical objective of the book is to sort these arguments into three categories: those accepted as legitimate and important qualifications to the case for free trade, those dismissed as curiosities with little application in practice, and those rejected on grounds of logic. Irwin's intent seems to be to report the consensus opinion of academic economists. There is, however, some mixing of that...