STUDIES IN ECONOMIC HISTORY This series, specially commissioned by the Economic History Society, focuses attention on the main problems of economic history. Recently there has been a great deal of detailed research and reinterpretation, some ofi t controversial, but it has remained largely inaccessible to students or buried in academic journals. This series is an attempt to provide a guide to the current inter pretations of the key themes of economic history in which advances have recently been made, or in which there has been significant debate. Each book will survey recent work, indicate the full scope of the particular problem as it has been opened by research and distinguish what conclusions can be drawn in the present state of knowledge. Both old and recent work will be reviewed criti cally, but each book will provide a balanced survey rather than an exposition of the author's own viewpoint. The series as a whole will give readers access to the best work done, help them to draw their own conclusions in some major fields and, by means of the critical bibliography in each book, guide them in the selection of further reading. The aim is to provide a springboard to further work and not a set of pre packaged conclusions or short cuts. STUDIES IN ECONOMIC HISTORY Edited for the Economic History Sociery by M. W. Flinn PUBLISHED B. W. E. Alford Depression and Recovery? British Economic Growth, 1918-1939 S. D. Chapman The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution M. E. Falkus The Industrialisation of Russia, 1700-1914 M. W. Flinn British Population Growth, 1700-1850 R. H. Hilton The Decline of Serfdom in Medieval England E. L. Jones The Development of English Agriculture, 1815-1873 J.D. Marshall The Old Poor Law, 1795-1834 Alan S. Milward The Economic Effects of the Two World Wars on Britain G. E. Mingay Enclosure and the Small Farmer in the Age of the Industrial Revolution A. E. Musson British Trade Unions, 1800-1875 R. B. Outhwaite Inflation in Tudor and Early Stuart England Michael E. Rose The Relief of Poverty, 1834-1914 S. B. Saul The Myth of the Great Depression, 1873-1896 Arthur J. Taylor Laissez-faire and State Intervention in Nineteenth-century Britain TITLES IN PREPARATION INCLUDE P. Cottrell British Overseas Investment in the Nineteenth Century R. Davis English Overseas Trade, 1500-1700 J. R. Hay The Origins ofthe Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1905-1914 R. M. Mitchison British Population Growth, 1850-1950 P. L. Payne British Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth Century S. B. Saul The Econometric Approach to Economic History Laissez-faire and State Intervention in 11ritain JVineteenth-centu~ Prepared for The Economic History Society by ARTHUR]. TAYLOR Professor cif Modern History in the University cif Leeds Macmillan Education ©The Economic History Society 1972 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 19 72 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New rork Toronto Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN 333 09925 7 ISBN 978-0-333-09925-4 ISBN 978-1-349-00661-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00661-8 The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or other wise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form ofbinding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar con dition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Contents Acknowledgements 6 Editor's Preface 7 1 Towards a Definition of Laissez;-faire 11 2 The Area of Debate 13 3 The Theory of Economic Policy 18 4 The Transmission of Economic Ideas 27 5 Benthamism, Laissez;-faire and Interventionism 32 6 Interventionism and Laissez;-faire in Practice 39 (i) Free trade; the railways 39 (ii) Factory reform; Poor Law reform 42 (iii) Public health; education 45 7 The Chronology of Laissez;-faire 50 8 Was There an Age of Laissez;-faire? 53 Notes and References 65 Select Bibliography 71 Index 78 Table: Government Expenditure by Function, 1792-1950 62 Acknowledgements THE bibliography stands as a statement of my wide indebted ness, but I should like to express particular thanks to Professor A. W. Coats, who guided me to writings in his own field which I might otherwise have overlooked, and to Professor M. W. Flinn, an ever-helpful and indulgent editor. The title of this study is borrowed without permission from J. B. Brebner's 1948 essay which was the starting-point for many of the controversies which it has been my purpose to examme. A.J.T. Editor's Preface SO long as the study of economic history was confined to only a small group at a few universities, its literature was not prolific and its few specialists had no great problem in keeping abreast of the work of their colleagues. Even in the 1930s there were only two journals devoted exclusively to this field. But the high quality of the work of the economic historians during the inter-war period and the post-war growth in the study of the social sciences sparked off an immense expansion in the study of economic history after the Second World War. There was a great expan sion of research and many new journals were launched, some specialising in branches of the subject like transport, business or agricultural history. Most significantly, economic history began to be studied as an aspect of history in its own right in schools. As a consequence, the examining boards began to offer papers in economic history at all levels, while textbooks specifically designed for the school market began to be published. For those engaged in research and writing this period of rapid expansion of economic history studies has been an exciting, if rather breathless one. For the larger numbers, however, labouring in the outfield of the schools and colleges of further education, the excitement of the explosion of research has been tempered by frustration caused by its vast quantity and, frequently, its con troversial character. Nor, it must be admitted, has the ability or willingness of the academic economic historians to generalise and summarise marched in step with their enthusiasm for research . .T he greatest problems of interpretation and generalisation have tended to gather round a handful of principal themes in economic history. It is, indeed, a tribute to the sound sense of economic historians that they have continued to dedicate their energies, however inconclusively, to the solution of these key problems. The results of this activity, however, much of it stored away in a wide range of academic journals, have tended to remain inaccessible to many of those currently interested in the subject. Recognising the need for guidance through the burgeon- 7 ing and confusing literature that has grown around these basic topics, the Economic History Society decided to launch this series of small books. The books are intended to serve as guides to cur rent interpretations in important fields of economic history in which important advances have recently been made, or in which there has recently been some significant debate. Each book aims to survey recent work, to indicate the full scope of the particular problem as it has been opened up by recent scholarship, and to draw such conclusions as seem warranted, given the present state of knowledge and understanding. The authors will often be at pains to point out where, in their view, because of a lack of infor mation or inadequate research, they believe it is premature to attempt to draw firm conclusions. While authors will not hesi tate to review recent and older work critically, the books are not intended to serve as vehicles for their own specialist views : the aim is to provide a balanced summary rather than an exposition of the author's own viewpoint. Each book will include a descrip tive bibliography. In this way the series aims to give all those interested in econo mic history at a serious level access to recent scholarship in some major fields. Above all, the aim is to help the reader to draw his own conclusions, and to guide him in the selection of further reading as a means to this end, rather than to present him with a set of pre-packaged conclusions. M. W.FLINN Editor 8 It was the age of Samuel Smiles and the self-made man, of the dominance of the bourgeoisie. Its political foundations were the general abstention of the State from attempts to control the course of industrial development and the reliance on the initiative and unrestricted competition of independent business concerns. It was the age of laissez-faire. Britain's Industrial Future (The Liberal Yellow Book) (1928) p. 6 I do not myself think that the conception of a period of laissez faire is helpful. It has just enough truth to conceal its defects, which are many, and it is an encouragement to error. G. S. R. KITSON CLARK, An Expanding Society: Britain, 1830-1900(1967)p. 162 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means. what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' LEWIS CARROLL, Through the Looking-Glass 9