The economic doctrines in the wine trade and wine production sectors: the case of Bastiat and the Port wine sector: 1850-1908

for any sociological reason.

It can also be considered that some academic economists turn themselves economic
journalists and the other way around, though the latter case is much less frequent. In the
former, however, the activity of journalism can be seen as an extension of the academic life
intruding into politics or public opinion making. In other words, academic economists can
build on already acquired knowledge and at the margin write for newspapers in a first period,
then extending this activity to the detriment of the scientific endeavor.

Some authors are not especially economic journalists but are worth attention because
they are either members of parliaments or members of professional or sectoral associations.
Those could be called either pseudo-journalists, sharing specific features with journalists, or
opinion leaders or opinion makers. Many economic journalists were also either political
activist or member of associations aiming at the diffusion of economic and political doctrines
and ideas. This is again the case of Frédéric Bastiat.

Elements such as membership of an ideological association diffusing ideas can be
construed as a secondary characteristic of an economic journalist, reinforcing its inclusion in
the set.

It is important to see that the popularization of economics, and its interaction with
fundamental economic (and legal or social) issues such as the Great Depression, or any
project of statute, is part of the making of economics when we include the scientific practice
in its socio-cultural context.

By economic dogma, I mean fundamental postulate or a set of assumptions whose
proponents are more or less unwilling to discuss. These are often, but not exclusively,
ideological dogmas. This has to be distinguished from economic doctrines. To be more
precise, I distinguish five terms: dogmas, doctrines, ideas, concepts and theories.

On one extreme, a dogma can be understood as a religious principle, as James Orr
once put it: “Dogma, I take to be a formulation of doctrine stamped with ecclesiastical
authority” (Orr 1897: 24). Of course, I do not go so far as that and associate economic
doctrines to dogmas. A doctrine could then be defined as an intermediary position between
dogmas or opinions and the scientific propositions. Doctrines still have a component based
on opinion or doxa that is base on the authority argument (and often synonymous of fallacy).
Ideas are loose terms that are part of doctrines but are neither dogmas nor concepts. Bastiat’s
arguments are full of this type of economic ideas and not so much concepts and theories.

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