Manchester School of economics
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Manchester Liberalism (also called the Manchester School, Manchester Capitalism and Manchesterism) comprises the political, economic and social movements of the 19th century that originated in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England. Led by
Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...
and
John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...
, it won a wide hearing for its argument that free trade would lead to a more equitable society, making essential products available to all. Its most famous activity was the
Anti-Corn Law League The Anti-Corn Law League was a successful political movement in Great Britain aimed at the abolition of the unpopular Corn Laws, which protected landowners’ interests by levying taxes on imported wheat, thus raising the price of bread at a tim ...
that called for repeal of the
Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...
that kept
food prices Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing ...
high. It expounded the social and economic implications of
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
and ''
laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
''
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
. The Manchester School took the theories of
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...
advocated by
classical economists Classical economics, classical political economy, or Smithian economics is a school of thought in political economy that flourished, primarily in Britain, in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th century. Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith ...
such as Adam Smith and made them the basis for government policy. It also promoted
pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
,
anti-slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...
, freedom of the press and
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
.


Manchester background

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
was the hub of the world's textile manufacturing industry, and had a large population of factory workers who were disadvantaged by the Corn Laws, the
protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
policy that imposed
tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and pol ...
s on imported wheat and therefore increased the price of food. The Corn Laws were supported by the land-owning aristocracy because they reduced foreign competition and allowed landowners to keep grain prices high. That increased the profits from agriculture as the population expanded. However, the operation of the Corn Laws meant that factory workers in the
textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
s of northern England were faced with increasing food prices. In turn, mill owners had to pay higher wages, which meant that the price of finished goods was higher and the foreign trade competitiveness of their products was reduced.


Anti-Corn Law League

Mercantilism holds that a country’s prosperity is dependent on large exports, but limited imports of goods. At the beginning of the 19th century, trade in Britain was still subject to
import quota An import quota is a type of trade restriction that sets a physical limit on the quantity of a good that can be imported into a country in a given period of time. Quotas, like other trade restrictions, are typically used to benefit the producers ...
s, price ceilings and other state interventions. That led to shortages of certain goods in British markets, in particular corn (grains usually requiring grinding, most often, but not always wheat). Manchester became the headquarters of the Anti-Corn Law League from 1839. The League campaigned against the Corn Laws, which it said would reduce food prices and increase the competitiveness of manufactured goods abroad. Manchester Liberalism grew out of that movement. That has led to the situation seen in modern Britain, where the country benefits from less expensive food, imported from trading partners, and those partners in turn benefit from less expensive goods imported from Britain, in a system of globalised cooperation in production. Manchester Liberalism has a theoretical basis in the writings of Adam Smith,
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment phil ...
and Jean-Baptiste Say. The great champions of the Manchester School were
Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...
and
John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...
. As well as being advocates of free trade, they were radical opponents of war and imperialism, and proponents of peaceful relations between peoples. The "
Little Englander In its original meaning during the late 18th and 19th centuries, a "Little Englander" was a member of the Liberal Party who was opposed to expansion of the British Empire, as well as certain traditionalist conservatives who wanted England to exte ...
" movement saw little benefit in paying taxes to defend colonies such as
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, which contributed little trade to Manchester manufacturers and could not supply their main raw material of
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
. Manchesterism can therefore be seen as a belief in free and consensual relations amongst individuals and groups at all levels. Cobden's efforts to promote free trade were always instrumental in what he deemed the highest moral purpose, i.e. the promotion of peace on earth and goodwill among men.


Terminology

In January 1848,
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Benjamin Disraeli first used the term "the Manchester School". According to historian
Ralph Raico Ralph Raico (; October 23, 1936 – December 13, 2016) was an American libertarian historian of European liberalism and a professor of history at Buffalo State College.Julius Faucher in 1870, the term "Manchesterism" was invented by Ferdinand Lassalle (the founder of German socialism) and was meant as an abusive term.Raico, Ralph (2004
''Authentic German Liberalism of the 19th Century''
Ecole Polytechnique, Centre de Recherce en Epistemologie Appliquee, Unité associée au CNRS


See also

* Birmingham School, other contemporary school associated with British industrial capitalism * British Whig Party *
Michel Chevalier Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal. Biography Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Chevalier studied at the ''École Polytechnique'', obtaining an engineerin ...
* Thomas Thomasson


Notes and references


Further reading

* Bresiger, Gregory. "Laissez Faire and Little Englanderism: The Rise, Fall, Rise, and Fall of the Manchester School," ''Journal of Libertarian Studies'' (1997) 13#1 pp 45–79
online
* William Dyer Grampp
''The Manchester School of Economics''
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960), the standard scholarly history * Wallace, Elisabeth. "The Political Ideas of the Manchester School," ''University of Toronto Quarterly'' (1960) 29#2 pp 122–138 {{Schools of economic thought History of liberalism Liberalism in the United Kingdom Libertarianism in the United Kingdom History of Manchester Schools of economic thought