The Economic Advantages of Being Peripheral: Subordinate Nations in Multinational Empires
The Economic Advantages of Being Peripheral: Subordinate Nations in Multinational Empires
Author(s): Martin C. SpechlerSubject(s): National Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, Political Philosophy, Governance, Economic policy, International relations/trade, Political economy, Economic development
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: multinational empires; political economy; development of national economy; minimal state intervention in domestic markets; liberal cosmopolitanism; free trade; international trade;
Summary/Abstract: Does a small nation develop best as an open economy, as a self-sufficient one, or as a constituent part of a multi-national imperial system? For over two centuries political economists have debated whether sovereign protection helps develop the national economy. They have argued from two contending perspectives. Cosmopolitan liberals, like Adam Smith and the Manchester school, maintained that a country's economic development would proceed best with minimal state intervention in domestic markets and in trade with the outside world. Smith wrote that, "The division of labor," considered the mainspring of the wealth of nations, "is limited by the extent of the market." [...]
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 03/1989
- Issue No: 03
- Page Range: 448-464
- Page Count: 17
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF