Chapter 12 : 12 BASTIAT (1801-1850)

12 BASTIAT (1801-1850)

Introduction

• Frederic Bastiat was born in 1801 near Bayonne in France to a family of wealthy merchants.
• Career Path: He worked successively as a merchant, a farmer, a justice of the peace, a councillor, and finally a deputy in the Constituent Assembly of 1848.
• He died in Rome in 1850 at the age of forty-nine.
• Literary Career: His writing career was very brief but impactful.
• First Article (1844): Titled "Concerning the Influence of English and French Tariffs on the Future or Both Peoples."
• 1845: Became secretary of the Free Trade Association in Paris and took charge of a newspaper called 'Free Trade'.
• Sophismes economiques (Economic Sophisms): A series of his articles published as a book.
• Harmonies economiques (Economic Harmonies): His most ambitious attempt. He completed only the first volume, which appeared in 1850 (the year of his death). This work sums up the essence of Bastiat.
• School of Thought: In the history of economic thought, thinkers are classified as follows:

| Thinkers | Classification | | :--- | :--- | | Carey and Bastiat | Optimists | | Ricardo and Malthus | Pessimists |

Key Terms

📌 Exam Tidbits

• Carey and Bastiat = Optimists; Ricardo and Malthus = Pessimists.
• Bastiat's most ambitious work, Harmonies economiques, was published in 1850.
• Served as a deputy in the Constituent Assembly of 1848.

Free Trade versus Protection

• Bastiat was essentially a journalist who paid close attention to the controversies of his day.
• Core Stance: He was a champion of Free Trade and laissez-faire, and he strongly opposed socialism.
• View on Protection and Socialism: He considered both as devices of exploitation.
• Argument against Protection : A manufacturer who cannot make a profit seeks Protection → the State will guarantee him a profit at other…