The economic sensibilities of “A Christmas Carol”

By J.W.S.W.

IN SEPTEMBER 1843, as The Economist’s first edition went to press in London, a famous but debt-ridden writer was also commencing a new project. The short book, named “A Christmas Carol”, was partly an attempt to stave off the financial troubles of its author, Charles Dickens. In that respect, among others, it was a success. “A Christmas Carol” was published on December 17th, and sold out its initial run of 6,000 copies by Christmas Eve. The story was a foundational text for the distinctly Victorian version of Christmas which remains familiar today, with roast bird, festive cheer and homiletic tone.

Both the novella and this newspaper grew out of a period of intense political and economic turbulence. Rampant industrialisation was transforming Britain’s landscape; increasingly globalised trade had created new pressures, pitting established interests against a restive and maltreated working class. While The Economist was clear in its aim to champion free trade and classical liberalism, the ideological bent of “A Christmas Carol” was more equivocal. Many of the Victorian readers who drove the book’s initial popularity were drawn by its amenability to Biblical allegory, more than any perceived political message. By the Edwardian era, it was largely read as a whimsical children’s story. It was only in the 20th century that “A Christmas Carol” was taken up by literary critics who attempted to parse its political subtext. Its economic ideas are valuable, too.