Prices

One of the reasons that economic writers from the 1770’s onwards concentrated on current prices was that prices were changing so rapidly. Arthur Young noticed the price increases beginning in the middle of the century, remarking especially at their rapidity in the period 1760 to 1774. ¹⁵⁶ The French Wars brought further inflation: Joseph Lowe thought that 1814 average prices were 62 per cent above the 1792 level. ¹⁵⁷ Prices continued to capture the public’s imagination after 1815, as they fell 43 per cent between 1815 and 1850. ¹⁵⁸