Seminar series Empires, colonies and states in Jevons’ and Marshall’s defence of free trade Unravelling the imperial and colonial dynamics of free trade Add to calendar 2024-01-15 17:00 2024-01-15 18:30 Europe/Rome Empires, colonies and states in Jevons’ and Marshall’s defence of free trade Sala Triaria Villa Schifanoia YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Jan 15 2024 17:00 - 18:30 CET Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia Organised by Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Department of Political and Social Sciences Join Prof. David L. Blaney, G. Theodore Mitau Professor of Political Science at Macalester College as he presents his research within the Political Economy Working Group. Today’s economists invoke a free trade 'tradition' built on the seemingly unassailable case against protectionism. Starting with Ricardo’s familiar account of comparative advantage, the belief in free trade is reinforced and made watertight with the application of the marginal analysis developed by late-Victorian economists, like W. Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) and Alfred Marshall (1842-1924). The standard model builds on Jevons’ and Marshall’s formal theories of trade when it presumes a world of countries (and national economies) facing each other as if they are autonomous units with given production possibilities and demand curves.This model and the argument for free trade assume a historical and territorial context of nation-states. Notably, Jevons and Marshall emphasize imperial and colonial dynamics, shaping not only their views on trade but also their conception of economic science. Their discussions on international trade are driven by concerns about preserving Britain's manufacturing dominance. While acknowledging the potential spatial dispersion of industry, they emphasize civilizational and racial hierarchies, departing from the assumption that individuals, firms, or states are fixed and homogeneous units in economics. Instead of the timeless equilibrium favoured by economists, they draw on social evolutionary thought to highlight the role of modern empire, civilizational dominance, and racial superiority in human progress.A close reading of Jevons and Marshall adds an historical and cultural context erased from contemporary neoclassical economics so that we can observe clearly an example of economists’ sanctification of the costs paid by some races and classes for economic and moral progress.