英国被视为自由放任学说的发源地，也是唯一实行自由贸易的国家。英国也被认为是唯一几乎没有或完全没有国家干预而发展起来的国家。然而，事实远非如此，因为英国是第一个建立幼稚产业保护制度的国家。所谓幼稚产业保护，就是对外国竞争设置障碍，以确保本国企业在没有竞争对手的情况下得到发展。

Britain is regarded as the fountain of laissez-faire doctrine and the only country to have practised free trade. Britain is regarded as the only nation to have developed with little or no state intervention. However, this cannot be further from the truth since Britain was the first country to establish infant industry protection. This is where obstacles are placed upon foreign competition to ensure domestic companies develop with no competitors.

1721年的商法改革，经济史学家布里斯科于1907年对其作了概括：

The 1721 reform of the mercantile law was summed up by Brisco, an economic historian in 1907:

“制造业必须在国内受到保护，以免受到外国成品的冲击；成品的自由出口必须得到保障；并且在可能的情况下，必须通过奖励金和补贴加以鼓励。”38 这意味着原材料的进口关税被降低，而外国制成品的关税则被大幅提高。具体而言，英国曾禁止从某些殖民地进口优质商品，只要这些商品威胁到英国的产业。

‘manufactures had to be protected at home from foreign finished products; free exportation of finished articles had to be secured; and where possible, encouragement had to be given by bounty and allowance.’38 This meant import duties on raw materials were lowered, duties on foreign manufactured goods were significantly raised. Specifically, Britain banned the imports of superior goods from some of its colonies if they happened to threaten British industries.

1846年的下一个重大变化是《谷物法》的废除。《谷物法》是一系列进口关税，表面上是为了保护英国农场主和地主免受廉价外国粮食进口的冲击。然而，废除该法的目的，实际上是通过扩大英国农业的出口市场，来阻止欧洲大陆向工业化迈进。英国能够转向自由贸易体制，所依托的技术领先优势，恰恰是在高额且长期存在的关税壁垒之下取得的。英国经济整体的自由化是在国家严格控制和监管下进行的，并非通过自由放任的方式实现。

The next big change came in 1846 with the repeal of the Corn Laws, which were import tariffs ostensibly designed to protect British farmers and landowners against competition from cheap foreign grain imports. But this was intended to halt the move to industrialization on the continent by enlarging the export market for British agriculture. Britain’s technological lead that enabled the shift to a free trade regime had been achieved behind high and long lasting tariff barriers. The overall liberalisation of the British economy was a highly controlled affair overseen by the state and not achieved through a laissez-faire approach.

随着工业促进策略的运用，英国在1800年达到巅峰时，正在全球海域中寻求财富。这一积极的殖民扩张计划巩固了英国在世界上的地位，并使战争从争夺领土转向争夺海外市场。正是这台殖民战争机器，推动了英国大部分的科学研究、创新、新的劳动组织方式以及军事战略。人们常常宣扬的自由主义价值观被视为英国发展的源泉，但它们是在英国取得全球霸权之后才出现的。直到英国实现全球至上，它才开始倡导自由贸易，目的是为了打开外国市场的大门。自由市场无疑是在发展之后才出现的，而不是启动大英帝国的催化剂。

With the use of industrial promotion strategies, Britain, when it reached its pinnacle in 1800, was navigating the seas in search of riches around the globe. This programme of aggressive colonisation entrenched Britain’s position in the world and changed battles from being fought for territories to offshore markets. It was this colonial war machine that drove a large chunk of Britain’s scientific research, innovation, new ways of organising labour and military strategy. The liberal values which are trumpeted as the source of Britain’s development arrived after achieving global domination. It was only after Britain achieved global supremacy that it championed free trade and this was to gain access to foreign markets. Free markets most certainly came after development rather than being the catalyst that launched the British Empire.

美国的发展也大体遵循了类似的路径。直到第二次世界大战之后,美国才开始推行贸易自由化。剑桥大学经济史专家Joon Change博士对其原因作出了如下阐述:"正是在第二次世界大战之后,美国凭借其无可挑战的工业霸权,终于开始放开贸易,并开始倡导自由贸易的事业。"

US development also occurred in a similar fashion. It wasn’t until after World War 2 that the US began to liberalise trade and the reasons for this was outlined by Dr Joon Change, an expert in economic history at Cambridge ‘it was only after World War 2 that the USA – with its industrial supremacy unchallenged - finally liberalized its trade and started championing the cause of free trade.

一旦西方国家在保护主义高墙的庇护下建立起工业优势，它们往往转而倡导自由贸易，以便抽掉后来者的梯子，巩固自身的主导地位。19世纪中叶的英国无疑就是如此，它推动了欧洲的自由化进程。一百年后，美国也走上了类似的道路。

Once Western countries establish industrial dominance behind protectionist walls, they tend to advocate free trade in order to kick away the ladder from the followers and consolidate their dominance as was certainly the case for Britain in the mid 19th century which led the liberalisation drive in Europe. The United States followed a similar path a hundred years later.