The Corn Laws

Paper Summary:

Carefully examines arguments for and against the Corn Laws by contemporary Britons and also provides a comprehensive literature review, which examines what current scholars say about the matter. The writer covers extensively the affirmative arguments for national security and price stability and finds them wanting. The paper also covers Mill's opening salvo against the first strong Corn Law in 1815 and finds that, while strong, such economic arguments had little impact at first. It also covers extensively Robert Torrens's introduction of the concept of the terms of trade, which provided a potentially forceful argument for protection. The paper concludes that the anti-Corn Law arguments were generally more sound.

Section I: Introduction
Section II: Historical Background: Evolution of the Corn Laws 1670-1815
Section III: Literature Review
Section IV: Explanation of Methodology
Section V: Before the Corn Law of 1815
Section VI: The Corn Law of 1815
Section VII: The Terms of Trade
Section VIII: Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The Corn Laws, the rules governing the import and export of grain in the United Kingdom, sparked particularly heated debate since their 1815 revision, and even after their 1846 repeal. To agriculturalists, the Corn Laws were a necessity without which food security and an acceptable rural standard of living could not be maintained. To industrialists and urban workers, the Corn Laws were a theft and an impediment to national progress. The existing literature extensively examines the economic effects of the Corn Laws across sectors of the economy, social groups, and national income, as well Britain's terms of trade, and self-sufficiency in corn production. Despite such extensive analysis, nowhere have we been offered a systematic analysis of the soundness of British contemporaries? arguments regarding the Corn Laws. In this way, we are deprived of an understanding of the intellectual effort contemporary Britons invested in their thinking regarding the Corn Laws debate, and thus, the sincerity of their expressed motivations for advocating particular policies. This paper fills this gap. It will be shown that the argumentation was largely static until Robert Torrens? introduction of the terms of trade argument. Moreover, the arguments for strong protection are generally so weak that they are best regarded as merely covers for the true desire to raise prices and rents, to increase the profits of the landlords. In contrast, the anti-protectionist arguments are strong, and grow increasingly sound with time, as would be expected, as debate refines and improves the level of economic thinking."

More papers on The Corn Laws:

• Essay # 70960 : "The Corn Laws "
• Essay # 7346 : "The Navigation Act of 1600"
• Term Paper # 129063 : "The British Manorial System"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: