Burke's political economy has drawn the attention of commentators since the nineteenth century, including prominent economists such as J. M. Keynes and F. A. Hayek. Through the significant development of Burke scholarship over the last few decades, several aspects of his economic thought have become better understood. Now that a substantial study of the subject has recently been published (Collins 2020), it is a suitable moment to review its historiography.
This article surveys the development of the scholarship on Burke's political economy mainly from the 1980s to the present and succinctly reviews the chief themes that commentators have focused on, such as his ideas on the free market, poor relief, paper money, public finance, manners, and property. This review suggests that broader contextualization and comparative research are required to advance the research further.
Burke's political economy has long been considered an example of free-trade thinking, allegedly close to Adam...
