Anders Chydenius (1729 - 1803) was a contemporary of Adam Smith and a leading classical liberal in Nordic history. Chydenius wrote a remarkable essay containing a very clear exposition of the basic principles of economic liberalism and there can be very little doubt that it would have been a paper of great international fame if it had been published in English at the time he wrote it. In the essay Chydenius comes very close to expressing the famous Smithian metaphor of the invisible hand. This volume brings together Chydenius' contributions to the history of economic thought for the first time. With a biography from Juha Manninen and editorial contributions from academics such as Gustav Bjorkstrand and Bo Lindberg, Routledge are proud to present this valuable work which will doubtless be of great interest to historians of economic thought across the globe.

The book consists of eleven of the most important writings of Anders Chydenius, an eighteenth century pioneer of freedom and democracy. Thematically they touch upon subject areas such as the freedom of trade and industry, emigration, the monetary system of the Swedish realm in the eighteenth century, the freedom of the press (or as Chydenius said: the freedom of writing and printing), the freedom of information, the rights of the rural working class and the freedom of religion. The book also includes a comprehensive biography of Chydenius written by Lars Magnusson together with commentaries and explanatory notes to each text.