THE RIGHT BOOKS

Free Trade: The Necessary Foundation for World Peace (Foundation for Economic Education, Irving-ton-on-Hudson, N.Y. 10533; $5.95), edited by Joan Kennedy Taylor, is a timely, and for the most part interesting, collection of essays dating from as early as 1847 and as late as 1985, marred here and there by an excessive intellectual stringency (as in Ludwig von Mises’ statement that “What generates war is the economic philosophy almost universally espoused today by governments and political parties”) attributable to the project’s heavy indebtedness to The Freeman, in which many of the essays were originally printed. In addition to von Mises, the list of contributors includes William L. Baker, Frederic Bastiat, Clarence B. Carson, Frank Chodorov, W. M. Curtiss, Bettina Bien Greaves, Henry Hazlitt, Samuel H. Husbands, Gary North, David Osterfeld, E. C. Pasour Jr., and Hans F. Sennholz. According to the publishers: “This is the first volume in The Freeman Library, a new series of books that will, from time to time, bring together in permanent form a group of essays that illuminate a single topic.”

“Today,” the editor states, you will find neoliberals and neoconservatives who support the economics of free trade, as well as classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives. But this is often a shaky alliance, vulnerable to the pleadings of special circumstance and the perceived threat of war. A free-trade policy is seen by many as a luxury in which we can indulge ourselves when things are going well internationally. This leads politicians to hesitate to divest the United States of the ability to wage economic warfare; which means, to devise schemes to prosper at the expense of other countries, which means, to be protectionist.

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Free Trade: The Necessary Foundation for World Peace (Foundation for Economic Education, Irving-ton-on-Hudson, N.Y. 10533; $5.95), edited by Joan Kennedy Taylor, is a timely, and for the most part interesting, collection of essays dating from as early as 1847 and as late as 1985, marred here and there by an excessive intellectual stringency (as in Ludwig von Mises’ statement that “What generates war is the economic philosophy almost universally espoused today by governments and political parties”) attributable to the project’s heavy indebtedness to The Freeman, in which many of the essays were originally printed. In addition to von Mises, the list of contributors includes William L. Baker, Frederic Bastiat, Clarence B. Carson, Frank Chodorov, W. M. Curtiss, Bettina Bien Greaves, Henry Hazlitt, Samuel H. Husbands, Gary North, David Osterfeld, E. C. Pasour Jr., and Hans F. Sennholz. According to the publishers: “This is the first volume in The Freeman Library, a new series of books that will, from time to time, bring together in permanent form a group of essays that illuminate a single topic.”

“Today,” the editor states, you will find neoliberals and neoconservatives who support the economics of free trade, as well as classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives. But this is often a shaky alliance, vulnerable to the pleadings of special circumstance and the perceived threat of war. A free-trade policy is seen by many as a luxury in which we can indulge ourselves when things are going well internationally. This leads politicians to hesitate to divest the United States of the ability to wage economic warfare; which means, to devise schemes to prosper at the expense of other countries, which means, to be protectionist.