Editing Laissez-faire (section)

=== Europe ===
{{main|Economic liberalism}}
{{see also|Classical liberalism}}
In Europe, the ''laissez-faire'' movement was first widely promoted by the [[Physiocracy|Physiocrats]], a movement that included [[Vincent de Gournay]] (1712–1759), a successful merchant turned political figure. Gournay is postulated to have adapted the Taoist concept ''[[wu wei]]'',<ref>[[Christian Gerlach]], [http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/daten/2005/gerlach_christian_wu-wei.pdf Wu-Wei in Europe. A Study of Eurasian Economic Thought] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803052148/http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/daten/2005/gerlach_christian_wu-wei.pdf |date=2020-08-03 }}, London School of Economics – March 2005 p. 3" the diffusion of ''wu-wei'', co-evolved with the inner-European ''laissez-faire'' principle, the Libaniusian model." p. 8 "Thus, ''wu-wei'' has to be recognized as a ''laissez-faire'' instrument of Chinese political economy "p. 10 "Practising ''wu-wei erzhi''. Consequently, it is this variant of the ''laissez-faire'' maxim in which the basis of Physiocracy's 'moral philosophy' is to be located. Priddat's work made clear that the ''wu-wei'' of the complete ''économie'' has to be considered central to Physiocracy; "p. 11 "that ''wu-wei'' translates into French as ''laissez-faire''".</ref> from the writings on China by [[François Quesnay]]<ref name=Clarke/> (1694–1774). Gournay held that government should allow the [[Natural law|laws of nature]] to govern economic activity, with the state only intervening to protect life, liberty and property. [[François Quesnay]] and [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot]], Baron de l'Aulne took up Gournay's ideas. Quesnay had the ear of the King of France, [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] and in 1754 persuaded him to give ''laissez-faire'' a try. On September 17, the King abolished all tolls and restraints on the sale and transport of grain. For more than a decade, the experiment appeared successful, but 1768 saw a poor harvest, and the cost of bread rose so high that there was widespread starvation while merchants exported grain to obtain the best profit. In 1770, the [[List of Finance Ministers of France|Comptroller-General of Finances]] [[Joseph Marie Terray]] revoked the edict allowing free trade in grain.<ref>Will & Ariel Durant, ''Rousseau and the Revolution'', pp. 71–77, Simon and Schuster, 1967, {{ISBN|0-671-63058-X}}.</ref>

The doctrine of ''laissez-faire'' became an integral part of [[Classical liberalism|19th-century European liberalism]].<ref name="Fine, Sidney 1964"/> Just as liberals supported [[freedom of thought]] in the intellectual sphere, so were they equally prepared to champion the principles of [[free trade]] and [[free competition]] in the sphere of economics, seeing the state as merely a [[Night-watchman state|passive policeman]], protecting [[private property]] and administering justice, but not interfering with the affairs of its citizens. Businessmen, British industrialists in particular, were quick to associate these principles with their own economic interests.<ref name="Fine, Sidney 1964"/> Many of the ideas of the physiocrats spread throughout Europe and were adopted to a greater or lesser extent in Sweden, Tuscany, Spain and in the newly created United States. [[Adam Smith]], author of ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' (1776), met Quesnay and acknowledged his influence.<ref>Will & Ariel Durant, ''Rousseau and the Revolution'', p. 76, Simon and Schuster, 1967, {{ISBN|0-671-63058-X}}.</ref>

In Britain, the newspaper ''[[The Economist]]'' (founded in 1843) became an influential voice for ''laissez-faire'' [[capitalism]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Scott Gordon|title=The London Economist and the High Tide of Laissez Faire|year=1955|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=63|issue=6|pages=461–488|doi=10.1086/257722|s2cid=154921783}}</ref> ''Laissez-faire'' advocates opposed food aid for famines occurring within the [[British Empire]]. In 1847, referring to the famine then underway in Ireland, founder of ''The Economist'' [[James Wilson (businessman)|James Wilson]] wrote: "It is no man's business to provide for another".<ref>{{cite book|author=Cormac Ó Gráda|title=The Great Irish Famine|year=1995|chapter=section: ''Ideology and relief'' in Chpt. 2|isbn=978-0-521-55787-0|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|author-link=Cormac Ó Gráda}}</ref> More specifically, in [[An Essay on the Principle of Population]], [[Malthus]] argued that there was nothing that could be done to avoid famines because he felt he had mathematically proven that population growth tends to exceed growth in food production. However, ''The Economist'' campaigned against the [[Corn Laws]] that protected landlords in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] against competition from less expensive foreign imports of cereal products. The [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] in Ireland in 1845 led to the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The tariffs on grain which kept the price of bread artificially high were repealed.<ref>George Miller. ''On Fairness and Efficiency''. The Policy Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1-86134-221-8}} p. 344</ref> However, repeal of the Corn Laws came too late to stop the Irish famine, partly because it was done in stages over three years.<ref>Christine Kinealy. ''A Death-Dealing Famine:The Great Hunger in Ireland''. Pluto Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-7453-1074-9}}. p. 59.</ref>

A group that became known as the [[Manchester capitalism|Manchester Liberals]], to which [[Richard Cobden]] (1804–1865) and [[John Bright]] (1811–1889) belonged, were staunch defenders of free trade. After the death of Cobden, the [[Cobden Club]] (founded in 1866) continued their work.<ref>{{cite web|title=London Clubs in the Late Nineteenth Century|url=http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/paper28/28taddeiweb1.pdf|author=Antonia Taddei|year=1999|access-date=30 December 2008|archive-date=17 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217115036/http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/history/paper28/28taddeiweb1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The breakdown of ''laissez-faire'' as practised by the British Empire was partly led by British companies eager for state support of their positions abroad, in particular British oil companies.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jones|first=G. Gareth|year=1977|title=The British Government and the Oil Companies 1912–1924: The Search for an Oil Policy|journal=[[The Historical Journal]]|volume=2 |issue=3|pages=647–672|jstor=2638433|doi=10.1017/s0018246x00011286|s2cid=161977401 }}</ref>

{{Anchor|Liberismo}}
In Italy, philosopher [[Benedetto Croce]] created the term "liberism" (derived from the Italian term ''liberismo''), a term for the [[economic doctrine]] of ''laissez-faire'' [[capitalism]]; it is synonymous with [[economic liberalism]]. He claimed that "Liberalism can prove only a temporary right of private propriety of land and industries."<ref>(Croce-Einaudi, 1988, p. 139)</ref> It was popularized in English by Italian political scientist [[Giovanni Sartori]].<ref>Giovanni Sartori. ''The Theory of Democracy Revisited'' (1987). [[Chatham, New Jersey]]. Chatham House. {{ISBN|0-934540-49-7}}.</ref> Sartori specifically imported the term from Italian to distinguish between [[social liberalism]], which is generally considered a [[political ideology]] often advocating extensive government intervention in the economy, and those [[economic liberal]] theories that propose to virtually eliminate such intervention. In informal usage, liberism overlaps with other concepts such as [[free trade]], [[neoliberalism]], [[right-libertarianism]], the American concept of [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarianism]],<ref name=":2" /> and the ''laissez-faire'' doctrine of the French liberal [[Doctrinaires]]. The intention of Croce and of Sartori to attack the right to private property and to free enterprise separating them from the general philosophy of liberalism, that is primarily a theory of natural rights, was always criticised openly by the quoted philosophers and by some of the main representatives of liberalism, such as [[Luigi Einaudi]], [[Friedrich Hayek]],<ref name=":2">{{cite news|author=Pietro Moroni|url=https://www.pandorarivista.it/articoli/le-due-facce-della-medaglia-neoliberale/|title=Le due facce della medaglia neoliberale – Pandora Rivista|work=Pandora Rivista|date=25 April 2015|access-date=22 October 2018|archive-date=22 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622032453/https://www.pandorarivista.it/articoli/le-due-facce-della-medaglia-neoliberale/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Treccani|croce-ed-einaudi-un-confronto-su-liberalismo-e-liberismo_(Croce-e-Gentile)/|Croce ed Einaudi: un confronto su liberalismo e liberismo|accesso=22 ottobre 2018|autore=Marcello Montanari|anno=2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Liberalismo politico e liberalismo economico|author=Dario Antiseri|publisher=Rubettino}}</ref> and [[Milton Friedman]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Liberalismo|author=F.Hayek|publisher=Ideazione|page=62|year=1997|quote=Ciò comporta anche il rifiuto della distinzione tra liberalismo politico e liberalismo economico /elaborata in particolare da Croce come distinzione tra liberismo e liberalismo) Per la tradizione inglese, i due concetti sono inseparabili. Infatti, il principio fondamentale per cui l'intervento coercitivo dell'autorità statale deve limitarsi ad imporre il rispetto delle norme generali di mera condotta priva il governo del potere di dirigere e controllare le attività economiche degli individui.}}</ref> The [[Austrian School]] economist [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] argues that the differences between the economical concept of liberism<ref>I sostenitori dell'esistenza di una dottrina liberista la attribuiscono ad [[Adam Smith]] e al suo saggio ''La Ricchezza delle Nazioni'', laddove questi utilizzò il termine "liberal policy" un paio di volte per indicare il commercio privo di dazi. Smith non vedeva di buon occhio l'assenza di regolamentazione statale, infatti dichiarò: «''Raramente la gente dello stesso mestiere si ritrova insieme, anche se per motivi di svago e di divertimento, senza che la conversazione risulti in una cospirazione contro i profani o in un qualche espediente per far alzare i prezzi''»''.''</ref> and the economical consequences of liberalism<ref>La lingua francese parla di ''libéralisme politique'' e ''libéralisme économique'' (quest'ultimo chiamato anche ''laissez-faire'', lett. ''lasciate fare''), lo spagnolo di ''liberalismo social'' e ''liberalismo económico''. La lingua inglese parla di ''free trade'' (libero commercio) ma usa il termine ''liberalism'' anche per riferirsi al liberismo economico.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fondazioneluigieinaudi.it/Download/lezione_Scognamiglio_2011.pdf|title=Liberismo e liberalismo nella polemica fra Croce ed Einaudi|first=Scogniamiglio Pasini|last=Carlo|access-date=22 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228124608/http://www.fondazioneluigieinaudi.it/Download/lezione_Scognamiglio_2011.pdf|archive-date=28 December 2016}}</ref> can be summarized by saying that "A market is a law system. Without it, the only possible economy is the street robbery."<ref>{{cite book |title=Potere o legge economica?|last=Boehm-Bawerk|publisher=Rubbettino|page=67|year=1999}}</ref>