{"product_id":"9780691213415-the-laissez-faire-experiment-why-britain-embraced-and-then-abandoned-small-government-18001914","title":"The Laissez-Faire Experiment","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhy Britain Embraced and Then Abandoned Small Government, 1800–1914\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy Britain’s attempt at small government proved unable to cope with the challenges of the modern world\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the nineteenth century, as Britain attained a leading economic and political position in Europe, British policymakers embarked on a bold experiment with small and limited government. By the outbreak of the First World War, however, this laissez-faire philosophy of government had been abandoned and the country had taken its first steps toward becoming a modern welfare state. This book tells the story of Britain’s laissez-faire experiment, examining why it was done, how it functioned, and why it was ultimately rejected in favor of a more interventionist form of governance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlending insights from modern economic theory with a wealth of historical evidence, W. Walker Hanlon traces the slow expansion of government intervention across a broad spectrum of government functions in order to understand why and how Britain gave up on laissez-faire. It was not abandoned because Britain’s leaders lost faith in small government as some have suggested, nor did it collapse under the growing influence of working-class political power. Instead, Britain’s move away from small government was a pragmatic and piecemeal response—by policymakers who often deeply believed in laissez-faire—to the economic forces unleashed by the Industrial Revolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53550854144374,"sku":"9780691213415","price":43.26,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_29975548.jpg?v=1729484317","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780691213415-the-laissez-faire-experiment-why-britain-embraced-and-then-abandoned-small-government-18001914","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}