Economic Travel Literature

About this Collection

A number of very astute observers have written accounts of their travels during which they collected economic information, and described the political, economic, legal, and social condition of the countries through which they passed. Arthur Youngs Travels in France on the eve of the French Revolution are perhaps the best known of these. Thomas Hodgskin also wrote very interesting accounts of his trip to the northern German states where he thought that unwise intervention by the governments hampered German economic development compared to that taking place in Britain.

Classic Economics Texts

Key People

Horace Émile Say

Arthur Young

Titles & Essays

Group by Category

Arthur Young: A Bibliography

Related Links:

Arthur Young

Source: Arthur Young’s Travels in France during the Years 1787, 1788, 1789, ed. Miss Betham-Edwards (London: George Bell and Sons, 1909).

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Bastiat and immigration

By: Josh T. Smith December 18, 2023

That Robinson Crusoe and Friday are better together is obvious. No reader is surprised to find that, once united and working together, they do more together than apart. Yet, when we talk about essentially equivalent situations…

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Homer’s Odyssey: Blindness, Allegory, and Insight in the House of Hades

By: Alexander Schmid July 27, 2023

Homer’s House of Hades is a dark, unsightly place, but is part of the invisible nature of Hades due to the fact that one might understand it not literally, but allegorically? Let us look to the opening lines of Book XI of Homer’s…

The League. 1845 Part 2 (July 5 - Dec. 27 1845).

National Anti-Corn Law League (editor)

The organ of the National Anti-Corn-Law League was based in London and appeared between 1843 and 1846. It closed when the League achieved its goal of abolishing the Corn Laws in 1846. It was perhaps the first lobby group to use…

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Letters from Ireland: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire March 17, 2023

The copy of Harriet Martineau's Letters from Ireland that lives in the Liberty Fund rare book room as part of the Hamburger collection, seems to be an idea book to take off the shelves for both Women's History Month and St.…

Retrospect of Western Travel, 3 vols.

Harriet Martineau (author)

After her trip to American in 1834-36, Martineau wrote a perceptive analysis of social and economic conditions in the U.S.

Retrospect of Western Travel, vol. 1

Harriet Martineau (author)

After her trip to American in 1834-36, Martineau wrote a perceptive analysis of social and economic conditions in the U.S.

Retrospect of Western Travel, vol. 2

Harriet Martineau (author)

After her trip to American in 1834-36, Martineau wrote a perceptive analysis of social and economic conditions in the U.S.

Retrospect of Western Travel, vol. 3

Harriet Martineau (author)

After her trip to American in 1834-36, Martineau wrote a perceptive analysis of social and economic conditions in the U.S.

Society, Manners and Politics in the United States

Michel Chevalier (author)

Observations by a French economist of his trip to the United States. Like Tocqueville, Chevalier was sent by the French government in 1834 to inspect American institutions - Tocqueville was sent to inspect American prisons, Chevalier…

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The Adventures of Marco Polo: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire June 23, 2023

With the official start of summer this week, the world seems to be gearing up for travel. The OLL staff has been everywhere from Arizona to Glasgow to Jerusalem, with a lot more travel coming up through the summer month.

Travels in the North of Germany, 2 vols.

Thomas Hodgskin (author)

A two volume work in which Hodgskin describes in great detail the economic, political, legal, and social conditions he observed in his travels across northern Germany.

Travels in the North of Germany, vol. 1

Thomas Hodgskin (author)

Vol. I of a two volume work in which Hodgskin describes in great detail the economic, political, legal, and social conditions he observed in his travels across northern Germany.

Travels in the North of Germany, vol. 2

Thomas Hodgskin (author)

Vol. II of a two volume work in which Hodgskin describes in great detail the economic, political, legal, and social conditions he observed in his travels across northern Germany.

Arthur Young’s Travels in France during the Years 1787, 1788, 1789

Arthur Young (author)

Arthur Young was an 18th century pioneer in the detailed observation of economic conditions in the countryside and the collection of statistical data relating to agriculture. He was extraordinarily lucky in being in France on the eve…

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Trollope’s Belgium and West Germany: From the Liberty Fund Rare Book Room

By: Sarah Skwire March 10, 2023

What better author from the Liberty Fund archives could there be to mark Women's History Month than Frances "Fanny" Trollope? The mother of the prolific and respected novelist Anthony Trollope, Frances Trollope is widely considered…

Young, Arthur (1741-1820)

Arthur Young (1741-1820) was an 18th century English writer who is best known for the detailed accounts he published of his "travels" in England, Wales, Ireland and France on the eve of the revolution. After he inherited his father's…

Young, Arthur: A Biographical Sketch

Quotes

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition

Harriet Martineau on the institution of slavery, “restless slaves”, and the Bill of Rights (1838)

Full Quote

Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

Michel Chevalier on two kinds of political power in America, the Caesars and the Commissioners (1835)

Full Quote

Taxation

Thomas Hodgskin noted in his journey through the northern German states that the burden of heavy taxation was no better than it had been under the conqueror Napoleon (1820)

Full Quote