IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jechis/v72y2012i03p708-740_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Much Trade Liberalization Was There in the World Before and After Cobden-Chevalier?

Author

Listed:
  • TENA-JUNGUITO, ANTONIO
  • LAMPE, MARKUS
  • FERNANDES, FELIPE TÂMEGA

Abstract

The Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860 is regarded as central turning point in nineteenth-century trade policy, inaugurating a free trade era in Western Europe. We reexamine this story and put it into global perspective with a new database covering more than 7,500 data points for 11 categories of manufactures in 41 countries and colonies around the world between 1846 and 1880. It reveals that bilateralism after 1860 reinforced a process already underway before. Nevertheless, we highlight that trade liberalization was a global phenomenon over most of our period, so that the prominent British case appears as typical rather than exceptional.

Suggested Citation

  • Tena-Junguito, Antonio & Lampe, Markus & Fernandes, Felipe Tâmega, 2012. "How Much Trade Liberalization Was There in the World Before and After Cobden-Chevalier?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(03), pages 708-740, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:72:y:2012:i:03:p:708-740_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022050712000344
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hiau LooiKee & Alessandro Nicita & Marcelo Olarreaga, 2009. "Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(534), pages 172-199, January.
    2. Christopher M. Meissner, 2003. "Exchange-Rate Regimes and International Trade: Evidence from the Classical Gold Standard Era," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 344-353, March.
    3. Jeffrey G. Williamson & Luis Bertola, 2003. "Globalization in Latin America Before 1940," NBER Working Papers 9687, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Chengyan Yue & John C. Beghin, 2017. "Tariff Equivalent And Forgone Trade Effects Of Prohibitive Technical Barriers To Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters,in: Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 8, pages 139-150 World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Accominotti, Olivier & Flandreau, Marc, 2005. "Does Bilateralism Promote Trade? Nineteenth Century Liberalization Revisited," CEPR Discussion Papers 5423, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Irwin, Douglas A., 1993. "Free Trade and Protection in Nineteenth-Century Britain and France Revisited: A Comment on Nye," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(01), pages 146-152, March.
    7. Markus Lampe, 2011. "Explaining nineteenth‐century bilateralism: economic and political determinants of the Cobden–Chevalier network," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(2), pages 644-668, May.
    8. Lampe, Markus, 2009. "Effects of Bilateralism and the MFN Clause on International Trade: Evidence for the Cobden-Chevalier Network, 1860-1875," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(04), pages 1012-1040, December.
    9. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2009. "Something Rational in the State of Denmark? The Case of an Outsider in the Cobden-Chevalier Network 1860-1875," Discussion Papers 09-20, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    10. Yue, Chengyan & Beghin, John C., 2007. "The Tariff Equivalent and Forgone Trade Effects of Prohibitive Technical Barriers to Trade," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon TN 10000, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Christopher Blattman & Jason Hwang & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2004. "The Impact of the Terms of Trade on Economic Development in the Periphery, 1870-1939: Volatility and Secular Change," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2040, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    12. John V. C. Nye, 2007. "Problems of Perspective: The Myth of Free Trade Britain and Fortress France, from War, Wine, and Taxes: The Political Economy of Anglo-French Trade, 1689-1900," Introductory Chapters,in: War, Wine, and Taxes: The Political Economy of Anglo-French Trade, 1689-1900 Princeton University Press.
    13. Nye, John Vincent, 1991. "The Myth of Free-Trade Britain and Fortress France: Tariffs and Trade in the Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(01), pages 23-46, March.
    14. Nathan Nunn & Daniel Trefler, 2010. "The Structure of Tariffs and Long-Term Growth," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 158-194, October.
    15. Paul Sharp, 2006. "1846 and All That: The Rise and Fall of British Wheat Protection in the Nineteenth Century," Discussion Papers 06-14, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    16. Federico, Giovanni & Tena, Antonio, 1998. "Was Italy a protectionist country?," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(01), pages 73-97, April.
    17. Tena-Junguito, Antonio, 2010. "Bairoch revisited: tariff structure and growth in the late nineteenth century," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(01), pages 111-143, April.
    18. Irwin, Douglas A, 1995. "The GATT in Historical Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 323-328, May.
    19. Irwin, Douglas A. & Temin, Peter, 2001. "The Antebellum Tariff On Cotton Textiles Revisited," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(03), pages 777-798, September.
    20. Pahre,Robert, 2008. "Politics and Trade Cooperation in the Nineteenth Century," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521872744, April.
    21. Sibylle H. Lehmann & Kevin H. O'Rourke, 2008. "The Structure of Protection and Growth in the Late 19th Century," NBER Working Papers 14493, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Douglas A. Irwin, 1989. "Political Economy And Peel'S Repeal Of The Corn Laws," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 41-59, March.
    23. C. P. Kindleberger, 1974. "The Rise of Free Trade in Western Europe, 1820-1875," Working papers 133, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    24. Giovanni Federico, 2012. "The Corn Laws in continental perspective," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 166-187, May.
    25. de la Escosura, Leandro Prados, 1984. "El comercio hispano-britanico en los siglos XVIII y XIX. I. Reconstruccion," Revista de Historia Económica, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(02), pages 113-162, September.
    26. Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey, 2006. "From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions in Historical Perspective," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262195437, January.
    27. Flandreau, Marc, 2004. "The Glitter of Gold: France, Bimetallism, and the Emergence of the International Gold Standard, 1848-1873," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199257867.
    28. Harley, C. Knick, 2001. "The Antebellum Tariff: Different Products Or Competing Sources? A Comment On Irwin And Temin," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(03), pages 799-805, September.
    29. Moritz Schularick & Solomos Solomou, 2011. "Tariffs and economic growth in the first era of globalization," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 33-70, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:bla:ehsrev:v:70:y:2017:i:4:p:1244-1267 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Réka Juhász & Claudia Steinwender, 2018. "Spinning the Web: The Impact of ICT on Trade in Intermediates and Technology Diffusion," NBER Working Papers 24590, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Vincent Bignon & Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa, 2016. "Protectionism and the Education-Fertility Trade-off in Late 19th Century France," AMSE Working Papers 1604, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, Marseille, France, revised Jan 2016.
    4. Giovanni Federico & Antonio Tena-Junguito, 2017. "A tale of two globalizations: gains from trade and openness 1800–2010," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(3), pages 601-626, August.
    5. Manuel Llorca-Jaña, 2014. "The impact of early nineteenth-century globalization on foreign trade in the Southern Cone: A study of British trade statistics," Investigaciones de Historia Económica (IHE) Journal of the Spanish Economic History Association, Asociacion Espa–ola de Historia Economica, vol. 10(01), pages 46-56.
    6. Restrepo-Estrada, Maria Isabel & Tena Junguito, Antonio, 2016. "The roots of regional trade in the Americas 1870 to 1950," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH 23304, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    7. Feuerstein Switgard, 2013. "From the Zollverein to the Economics of Regionalism," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(3), pages 367-388, June.
    8. Federico, Giovanni & Tena Junguito, Antonio, 2013. "The ripples of the Industrial revolution: exports, economic growth and regional integration in Italy in the early 19th century," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp13-02, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    9. Giovanni Federico & Antonio Tena-Junguito, 2014. "The ripples of the industrial revolution: exports, economic growth, and regional integration in Italy in the early nineteenth century," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 349-369.
    10. repec:taf:sehrxx:v:65:y:2017:i:1:p:88-105 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Giovanni Federico & Antonio Tena-Junguito, 2017. "Lewis revisited: tropical polities competing on the world market, 1830–1938," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1244-1267, November.
    12. Richard Pomfret & Markus Lampe & Florian Ploeckl, 2014. "Spanning the Globe: The Rise of Global Communications Systems and the First Globalisation," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 242-261, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
    • N70 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:72:y:2012:i:03:p:708-740_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Keith Waters). General contact details of provider: http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_JEH .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.