Economists are no more the target audience of The Economist than they are of The Wall Street Journal. The Economist originated as an organ of the free trade mo

Economists are no more the target audience of The Economist than they are of The Wall Street Journal. The Economist originated as an organ of the free trade movement, particularly concerned with the repeal of the corn laws. I believe that the title was meant to articulate that free trade was a more principled and intellectually defensible political position than protectionism. I can't say I think the title reflects the contents of the article well enough, but I guess The Economist is suggesting that their evaluation is economically sophisticated. Cf. http://mitpress.typepad.com/mitpresslog/2007/01/from_corn_laws_.html http://mitpress.typepad.com/mitpresslog/2007/01/from_corn_la...