Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

Free trade
(1,814 words)

1. The term and its history

The term free trade denotes the absence of political restrictions in (transnational) commerce. Apart from transportation costs and general transaction costs, the price of goods circulating under free trade should always be the same in the national market as in the world market [5. 5]. In the early modern period, foreign trade (Trade, external) was controlled by customs duties and/or quantitative restrictions …

Cite this page
Hesse, Jan-Otmar and Roelofsen, Cornelis Gerrit, “Free trade”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_019391>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



▲   Back to top   ▲