In Defence Of Free Trade
Earlier today, I finished reading The Worldly Philosophers . It is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The following excerpt might tell you why: "When the Chamber of Deputies in the 1840s legislated higher duties on all foreign goods in order to benefit French industry, Bastiat turned out this masterpiece of economic satire: PETITION OF THE MANUFACTURERS OF CANDLES, STREET LAMPS, SNUFFERS, EXTINGUISHERS, AND THE PRODUCERS OF OIL, TALLOW, RESIN, ALCOHOL, AND GENERALLY EVERYTHING CONNECTED WITH LIGHTING TO MESSIEURS AND THE MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES GENTLEMEN, We are suffering from the intolerable competition of a foreign rival, placed, it would seem, in a condition so far superior to our own for the production of light, that he absolutely inundates our national market with it a price fabulously reduced...This rival...is no other than the sun. What we pray for, is, that it may please you to pass a law ordering the shu