The vast majority of the books and articles that have been written over the past few centuries about trade policy in general and protectionism in particular have been written from a utilitarian perspective. Indeed, it would only be a slight overstatement to say that the only works written about...

This article is about protectionism. It is divided into four parts. Part 1 reviews the philosophy of protectionism, and analyzes the various arguments that have been given to support it over the years. These arguments have generally supported producers at the expense of the general public. Part...