Journal of Economic Literature
Book Reviews
2026-08-28
Mark R. Brawley of McGill University reviews “From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions in Historical Perspective” by Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Examines the interacting forces that brought about the abrupt beginning of Britain's free-trade empire, focusing on the repeal of Britain's Corn Laws in 1846. Discusses interests, ideas, and institutions simplified--a demand- and supply-side perspective; lessons in lobbying for free trade--to concentrate or not; nationalizing the interest in free trade; the waning demand for protection--portfolio diversification of landowners; votes in Parliament, dissected into ideology, party, and interests; conservatives who sounded like trustees but voted like delegates; repeal in historical context--key parliamentary debates on the Corn Laws before 1846; free trade's last hurdle--why the lords acquiesced; how local newspapers affected members of Parliament's voting on repeal; and concluding thoughts on repeal and the road to democratic reform in nineteenth-century Britain. Schonhardt-Bailey is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the London School of Economics. Index.”