Studies in Economic Nationalism

Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.

John Milton: Areopagitica (1644).

I shall … venture to acknowledge, that, not only as a man, but as a British subject, I pray for the flourishing commerce of Germany, Spain, Italy, and even France itself.

David Hume: Of the Jealousy of Trade (1742).

Das ist die Eigenschaft der Dinge:
Natürlichem genügt das Weltall kaum;
Was künstlich ist, verlangt geschlossnen Raum.
(Such is the nature of things: the universe is barely sufficient for what is natural; but what is artificial requires closed space.)

Gœthe: Faust, Part II, Act 2.

There is no social phenomenon more universal in its incidence, nor more far-reaching for the future of mankind in its consequences, than economic nationalism to-day.

William E. Rappard: Economic Nationalism (1937).

I desire freedom as an end in itself. I desire order as a means to freedom. … I hold that if freedom is to be preserved and progress assured, we must look outside collectivism for an answer. We must look to a system in which there is truly independent initiative and truly dispersed power. … If we did not know a better system than overall collectivism, we should have to create it.

Lionel Robbins: Freedom and Order (1955).