Henry George, Jane Jacobs, and Free Trade

• Date: 01 May 2015
• Author: David Boyle
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12102
• Published date: 01 May 2015

Henry George, Jane Jacobs, and Free Trade

By DAVI D BOYLE*

ABSTRACT. Henry George and Jane Jacobs were both journalists and

made a contribution to economics based on their commitment to the

original version of free trade, as understood by 19

th

-century liberals,

rather than the late 20

th

-century version. The distinctive concept of free

trade, as originally understood, was as an instrument for small-scale

producers to break up entrenched monopolies and serve the interests

of the ordinary citizen. That was how Cobden used it in the debates

over the Corn Laws in the 1840s, and how Ruskin, Gesell, Chesterton,

and other critics conceived of economic liberation. In debates over free

trade in recent decades, that term has come to mean a defense of

power and privilege, the exact opposite of the intent of 19

th

-century

liberals. George and Jacobs sought to restore the original meaning by

developing theories of development and distribution thatwould enable

the market system to benefit everyone.

The famous Gold Rush in California in the 1850s was a bitterly disap-

pointing and brutalizing experience for many of those taking part. But

for a few, it changed their thinking about the meaning of money and

wealth—why some had it and some did not. Italso produced a number

of cautionary tales. One of the prospectors, carrying his gold home

with him on a ship that foundered in the Pacific, became the subject of

one of the tales told by the great English critic John Ruskin a few years

later.

He described how the passenger, who was carrying 200 pounds of

gold with him, was loathe to abandon his hard-won wealth when the

ship disappeared beneath the waves. He therefore strapped as much as

he could to himself, and jumped over the side. Once in the sea, the

gold dragged him down to the bottom.

*David Boyle is co-director of the New Weather Institute, a fellow of the New Eco-

nomics Foundation, and the author of many books, including Broke: How to Survive

the Middle Class Crisis (2014).

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 74, No. 3 (May, 2015).

DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12102

V

C2015 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.