Manchester Liberals

In this and other works, Smith expounded on how rational self-interest and competition can lead
to economic prosperity and well-being. It also provided one of the best-known intellectual rationales
for free trade and capitalism, greatly influencing the writings of later economists.
In 19th century Britain, laissez-faire capitalism found a small but strong following by
Manchester Liberals such as Richard Cobden and Richard Wright. In 1867, this resulted in a free trade
treaty being signed between Britain and France, after which several of these treaties were signed among
other European countries. The newspaper The Economist was founded in 1843, partly in opposition to
the Corn Laws. Free trade was discussed in places such as The Cobden Club, founded in 1866.
However, Austrian scholars argue that laissez-faire was never the main doctrine of any nation, and at
the end of the 1800s, European countries reintroduced economic protectionism and interventionism.
The centre-right Gaullists in post-World War II France advocated considerable social spending on
education and infrastructure development, as well as extensive economic regulation and a limited
amount of the wealth redistribution measures more characteristic of social democracy. This sounds
familiar.
So reforms took place , what are the effects caused by these reforms, lets look at New Zealand's current
position;
In September 1998, the Anglican Church organised a march to Parliament from each of the two
geographic extremities of New Zealand. The marchers gathered information about the changed
circumstances of New Zealanders as they went along their way, and they met in the middle at
Wellington and presented a copy of their findings to all parliamentarians.
Among the facts they discovered were the following:
1. One third of all New Zealand children are living below the poverty line.
2. Hospital waiting lists are five times the rate of those in Australia.
3. There are 200,000 New Zealanders who can not afford to make the visits to the doctor that they
need.
4. One in eight of the New Zealanders seeking work cannot find it.
5. $NZ 3,000,000,000 ( three thousand million dollars ) will be owed at the end of 1998 by NZ tertiary
students who have had to borrow to get the adequate education they need.
6. 365 foodbanks operate daily to assist New Zealanders in severe need of food, and more foodbanks
are being opened regularly, in response to need.
7. One-half of all the country's tenants ( both public and private ) must spend more than 60 percent of
their income on rent alone.
After twelve years of restructuring, the following is New Zealand's situation:
Annual growth rate of GDP from the year 1985 is one-third that of the preceding 90 years.
Unemployment remains too high. ( real unemployment , defined by people in secure full time work ,
not people with one or two part time jobs )
National debt still not extinguished.
Too-rapid removal of import licensing, removal of tariffs and removal of other protections has cost too
many jobs and industries.
Very many citizens are left with skills and experience wasted, family goals broken.
Many good industries no longer exist in the country.
Foreign ownership of national assets very much higher than previously, adding to the cash outflow.