Young built a reputation on the views he expressed as an agricultural improver, a political economist and a social observer. At the age of 17, he published a pamphlet "On the War in North America". He also wrote four early novels, and "Reflections on the Present State of Affairs at Home and Abroad" in 1759. In 1768 he published the "Farmer's Letters to the People of England", in 1771 the "Farmer's Calendar", which went through many editions, and in 1774 his "Political Arithmetic", which was widely translated.