HUMSS - Jesús Bohorquez

Economists on a Global Journey: Government and Economic Growth in Eighteenth-century Eurasian Travelling 

In the eighteenth century, travelling was much in fashion. Travel accounts became bestsellers and were widely read. They circulated as far as their authors did. But: Did the economists really travel? Economists have barely been linked to travel narratives yet they stood among the authors who travelled the most. This presentation focuses on the impact that travelling and journal writing had for the most essential economic discussions of the age. Through the analysis of travel accounts, I unveil two particular issues: firstly, an “empirical turn” that consolidated in the mid-century emergent political economy; and secondly, debates related to government, growth and property seen through the lenses of Asia’s past and future.