Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) was the editor of "Le Journal des Economistes." He writings are compiled into many books including "The Law", "The State", "Economic Sophisms", "What Is Seen And What Is Not Seen", "Economic Harmonies".

Having a Right To Work and a Right To Profit

The work furnished by the Government was done at the expense of labour, paid for by the tax-payer.

The Curse of Automation

The Curse of Automation

“A curse on machines! Every year, their increasing power devotes millions of workmen to pauperism, by depriving them of work, and therefore of wages and bread. A curse on machines!”

The Importance of the Middleman

The Importance of the Middleman

They would gladly suppress the capitalist, the banker, the speculator, the projector, the merchant, and the trader, accusing them of interposing between production and consumption, to extort from both, without giving either anything in return.

The Loss To The Economy From Public Works

The Loss To The Economy From Public Works

The State opens a road, builds a palace, straightens a street, cuts a canal; and so gives work to certain workmen — this is what is seen: but it deprives certain other workmen of work, and this is what is not seen.

No Better Investment Than Taxes?

No Better Investment Than Taxes?

It is nonsense to say that the Government officer will spend these hundred sous to the great profit of national labour; the thief would do the same; and so would James B., if he had not been stopped on the road by the extra-legal parasite, nor by the lawful sponger.

Disbanding The Troops

Disbanding The Troops

You do not see that to dismiss a hundred thousand soldiers is not to do away with a million of money, but to return it to the tax-payers.

The Broken Window

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James B., when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even...

A Curse on Machines

"A curse on machines! Every year, their increasing power devotes millions of workmen to pauperism, by depriving them of work, and therefore of wages and bread. A curse on machines!" This is the cry which is raised by vulgar prejudice, and echoed in the journals. But...

What Is Money?

"Hateful money! Hateful money!" cried F——, the economist, despairingly, as he came from the Committee of Finance, where a project of paper money had just been discussed. "What's the matter?" I said. "What is the meaning of this sudden dislike to the most...

Should Not The Government Support The Arts?

Ought the state to support the arts? There is certainly much to be said on both sides of this question. It may be said, in favor of the system of voting supplies for this purpose, that the arts enlarge, elevate, and harmonize the soul of a nation; that they divert it...

The Candlemakers' Petition To The Government

??Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Waxlights, Lamps, Candlelights, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Resin, Alcohol, and, Generally, of Everything Connected with Lighting To the Members of the Chamber of Deputies....

Outlaw the Sun!

To the Honorable Members of the Chamber of Deputies. Gentlemen: You are on the right track. You reject abstract theories and little regard for abundance and low prices. You concern yourselves mainly with the fate of the producer. You wish to free him from foreign...

That Which Is Seen, And That Which Is Not Seen

In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause -- it is seen. The others unfold in...

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