Popular Political Economy
About this Collection
The following works were written to explain economic ideas to a popular audience. They span a time frame from the late 1820s, when the expansion of the franchise in Britain required an electorate better informed on economic matters, to the present. The title for this Topic comes from one of the earliest practitioners, the ex-British naval officer Thomas Hodgskin, who delivered a series of 4 lectures in 1827 entitled Popular Political Economy at the London Mechanics Institution (a working class organization which was formed to further the education of its members).
Key People
Titles & Essays
Commerce
Economic History And Conditions
Economic Theory. Demography
Ethics
Fiction And Juvenile Belles Lettres
General Works
Socialism. Communism. Anarchism
Not Categorized
Quotes
Property Rights
Louis Wolowski and Pierre Émile Levasseur argue that Property is “the fruit of human liberty” and that Violence and Conquest have done much to disturb this natural order (1884)
The State
Spooner on the difference between a government and a highwayman (1870)
Religion & Toleration
William Leggett argues that Thanksgiving Day is no business of the government (1836)
Property Rights
Wolowski on property as a sacred right which is an emanation from man’s very being (1863)
Social Sciences