The Economist magazine is marking its 175th birthday with a special issue that looks back on its history and speculates about the future. It is a sobering exercise, highlighting the present breakdown in the world's political order, a collapse made worse by U.S. President Donald Trump but not caused by him.
When the magazine was founded in 1843 by James Wilson, a Scottish hatmaker, the British were locked in a bitter debate over the "corn laws" — tariffs on grain ("corn") imports. On the one side was a "mass movement ... [of] well-to-do liberal thinkers and progressive businessmen [and] the poor." On the other were landowners, defending tariffs that "kept up the price of grain."
The repeal of the tariffs in 1846 marked a huge victory for the then-concept of "liberalism," which — far from favoring bigger and more powerful government — championed "free trade, free markets and limited government," notes the magazine.