Thoughts and Details on Scarcity

What it is

This is a printed memorandum by Edmund Burke, titled Thoughts and Details on Scarcity, first presented to the Right Hon. William Pitt in November 1795. The surviving copy shown here is a scan of a bound book held by the UC Southern Regional Library Facility. The text available to us begins by warning that meddling with the trade in provisions is among the most dangerous acts a government can commit, especially in times of scarcity, when people are most inclined to it. Our text is a machine-read transcription of the scan, so some words may be garbled.

Why it matters

Written during a period of high food prices in Britain, the memorandum opposed wage and price regulation. Burke argued that popular fears and rumours spread during shortages made people's judgment weak, and that government's first duty was to provide accurate information. It shows how Burke applied his general belief in limited state intervention to a concrete economic crisis, and it was addressed to a sitting prime minister who had the power to act on such advice.

Look closer

• What does Burke say government should do first, and why does he think that is more useful than setting prices?
• Who does Burke blame for spreading 'idle tales', and whom might a government have trusted for information in 1795?
• Whose interests does this argument serve, and whose suffering in a famine might it leave out?