Free Trade and Social Welfare in Europe

This book deals with the historical relationship between international trade liberalisation – one of the backbones of globalisation – and the development of social welfare. In Europe the issue has regularly been at the centre of the political debate for at least two centuries, and still nowadays it continues to inspire decisions of the highest order, as in the recent case of Brexit. Analysing a number of particularly meaningful episodes and moments, the eight chapters of this edited volume provi