The Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement

First published in 1905, The Rise and Decline of Free Trade is Cunningham's treatise on the reason behind the failure of the Free Trade movement in England. He opens with a discussion Economic Science, a newly established field that claimed to have the weight of scientific rigor behind its theories about the complex mechanisms running the economies of the world-economies that managed to run themselves to great effect before anyone had attempted to turn the systems into mathematical equations. But just as a true picture of economics must take into account many variables, so must Cunningham's account of the movement take into account the politics of the century in which the movement was prevalent. Readers with an interest in trade and English history will find this analysis-part economics lesson, part history lesson-thoughtful yet accessible. Scottish economist WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM (1849-1919) graduated first class in Moral Science at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1891, he became a professor of economics at King's College, London. He is also the author of The Use and Abuse of Money (1891) and Alien Immigrants to England (1897).