America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914 [Paperback]

Michael Hudson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2010 | ISBN-10: 3980846687 | ISBN-13: 978-3980846684

The contribution of the American School of Political Economy (1848 to 1914) to America's wildly successful industrial development has disappeared from today's history books. American protectionists and technology theorists of the day were concerned with securing an economic competitive advantage and conversely, with offsetting the soil depletion of 19th century America's plantation export agriculture. They also emphasized the positive effect of rising wage levels and living standards on the productivity that made the American economic takeoff possible. The American School's "Economy of High Wages" doctrine stands in contrast to the ideology of free traders everywhere who accept low wages and existing productivity as permanent and unchanging "givens," and who treat higher consumption, health and educational standards merely as deadweight costs. Free trade logic remains the buttress of today's financial austerity policies imposed on debtor economies by the United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. By contrast, the lessons of the American School of Political Economy can provide a more realistic and positive role model for other countries to emulate - what the United States itself has done, not what its condescending "free-trade" diplomats are telling them to do. The lesson is to adopt the protectionist policies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that made America an economic superpower. Michael Hudson (Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City) is a frequent contributor to The Financial Times, Counterpunch, and Global Research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: ISLET (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3980846687
• ISBN-13: 978-3980846684
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The history of economic doctrines you should know but don't, January 12, 2011

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Nathan Tankus - See all my reviews

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This review is from: America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914 (Paperback)

Every American should be required to read this book by the time they turn 21. it tells an incredibly well researched story of the unique American political economy that developed in the 19th century to counter the pessimistic free trade ideas of Britain and how they were gradually abandoned as America started to take Britain's place as a world power. Michael Hudson provides wonderful historical and biographical context for each generation of American protectionists and shows how intimately related the politics of the time and protectionist political economy were. Any attempt to teach 19th century American history without the information contained here will result in a warped, even devastatingly flawed, view of American History.The only Disappointment this book inspires is the disappointment that it took this long to be written and the story it contains hasn't been more widely told. In conclusion, this book is critical to understanding the development of America, the history of protectionism and the roots of free trade dogma in today's politics.If the world doesn't learn how the united states became an industrialized nation, today's developing countries will never industrialize themselves.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly review of a neglected but crucial era in american economics, March 10, 2011

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Steve - See all my reviews

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This review is from: America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914 (Paperback)

This book is like a series of 20 mini biographies concerning important but nearly unknown political economy thinkers and "activists" during America's protectionist takeoff. I'm partial to biographies, so it was an enjoyable read. It's a shame this book is not getting wider exposure.

It's a 1975 rewrite of his 1968 dissertation, with some material added (I believe) in 2010. The 1975 printing had only 100 copies.

The book reviews and chronicles the diversity of protectionist thought. The title is accurate. He provides a lot of context, and I enjoyed the writing. Their thinking spanned topics such as evolution, religion, physics, slavery, and agriculture. It shows they had a lot of insight that J.S. Mill was not aware of. It's perfect for a historian who's primary interest is economics, or an economist who was not aware of these economists or who needs a background in protectionism.

The 2010 preface explains why this book is important today:

"Having replaced Britain as the world's major industrial and creditor power after WWI, the US adopted free trade and open financial markets on precisely the grounds its protectionists [of the 1800's] criticized Britain for doing. American economic strategists had learned the lesson that free trade benefits the strong at the expense of the weak [by trading low-wage resources for high-wage industrial goods, undermining the ability to build capital and future potential]. Instead of examining the path by which the US built up its economic strength, foreign countries have adopted today's 'free-market' Washington Consensus. This approach misses the strategy by which the US rose to industrial supremacy after the civil war."

It should be required reading for all writers of American history and economics textbooks.

A key point of the book "The Shock Doctrine" is that is it possible to use "free trade" to "rape" poor countries of their low-wage resources by using those resources to manufacture expensive goods and sell them back to the poor countries at a higher price. This prevents them from ever being able to acquire capital or experience in high wage production. In the case of the U.S., we have preached free trade even as we have had subsidies on agriculture (a subsidy has similar effect as a tariff). This book shows in detail the thinking that was behind America doing the opposite of what is has recently advised other countries to do. The evils chronicled in the "Shock Doctrine" do not have to occur intentionally through the IMF and world bank. Merely religiously following free trade theory (wrongly believing comparative advantage can solve all ills) achieves the same results. Protectionism has this historical evidence to back it up, and much of the serious American thinking that led it have been lost, excepting this tome. Of particular interest to an engineer like me is that they were aware of the importance of having access to low interest loans (or tax revenue) to intelligently build the infrastructure needed to efficiently use energy to replace low-wage human labor. Is this not the foundation of all human "progress" in the past 50 years? 200 years? People too often think technology are the driving force of modern progress. But the key is that technology uses energy more efficiently, not technology in and of itself.

In addition to England using similar protectionism in its rise, the currency peg employed by China is similar to a broad-spectrum tariff or subsidy. Some of the most fantastic growth stories of the past 40 years were based on protecting local industry to help it get started: Norway, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore are the best examples. It appears that in a world of efficiently producing industry, new entrants desperately need protectionism if they don't want to become economic colonies useful only for their resources. China's "tariff" and surplus of labor has helped the U.S. give away its primary "resource", industry, in exchange for capital. In hindsight, we needed to revert back to protectionism and not get so drunk on dollar hegemony.