America’s Neglected Protectionist Tradition : The Economics that Forged a Nation

At a moment when protectionist trade policy has returned to the centre of global economic debate, America''s Neglected Protectionist Tradition recovers the deep intellectual roots of that impulse — roots that stretch back to America''s founding and that represent a far more sophisticated economic tradition than is commonly understood. This work offers the most comprehensive treatment of the American protectionist school of economic thought, which originated with the ideas of Alexander Hamilton and Tench Coxe, and remained active throughout the nineteenth century. By drawing on the writings of nearly seventy economists and statesmen, it provides the first systematic account of a tradition whose dynamic, invention-driven vision of economic development stood as a genuine alternative to English classical economics. Central to the thinking of the American protectionist tradition is the idea of the economy as dynamic and inventive. Rather than seeing scarce resources as placing fixed limits on economic progress, the American Protectionists looked to invention, human ingenuity, and the diversity of talents and aptitudes as the means of forging the wealth of nations.