Teachings of the Worldly Philosophers: Reassessing the Case for Free Trade in Light of Smith, Ricardo, Rae and Marx

The great figures from the past of economics can provide valuable insight and perspective for the contemporary reassessment of the case for free trade. This paper examines less familiar but still highly relevant analyses of trade by two outstanding classical political economists, Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and two of the leading critics of classical political economy, John Rae and Karl Marx. There is more food for thought in the writings of these worldly philosophers than is commonly considered. Even the distinguished specialist literature on the history of trade theory can find more of importance to ponder.