Claude-Frédéric Bastiat,6 born in 1801 was one of the leading French optimists of the
late 1830s and early 1850s (he died on December 29 1850), a part of the liberal school.7 If
he was one of the members of that school and probably the best known, today his importance
has almost vanished. His scientific contributions, although not non-existent, are rather
limited. This was the dominant view (Gide and Rist 1926: 379-410, Schumpeter 1954). His
importance for the history of economic thought lies in the history of doctrines and in its
influence in the general discussion of economic and policy issues.
In 1846 he created in Bordeaux the association for free-trade and then in Paris
continued to work for the advancement of the free trade association and continued to write
articles on different economic subjects. He was also member of the regional assembly of
Landes and later deputy at the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale). He was eight times
member as vice-president of the Finance Comity of the Parliament.
The works of Bastiat are also important because of their rhetorical value; Bastiat, like
Jeremy Bentham, on a different level, was a reformer, moralist and polemist. Both dedicated
some attention to vicious reasoning, Bastiat wrote two books on sophisms called Sophismes
économiques and Bentham wrote some papers on fallacious reasoning that appeared under the
title Handbook of Political Fallacies. The importance of Bastiat ideas, besides the attention
on rhetorics, is not as much in the evolution of economic theory and economic history as in
concrete issues like the generation and distribution of wealth, efficiency and economic
transactions. Compared to classical economists, his writings emphasize more the problem of
class interests and group interests.8
Bastiat used to be classified as a journalist (Schumpeter 1954) or vulgar economist
(Marx) or French Liberal (Ingram 1888). Moreover, Bastiat’s ideas and combat was either
supported or followed by other French economists like Charles Dunoyer, Charles Comte,
Michel Chevalier and Gustave de Molinari in a context of almost complete dominance of
liberals in academic institutions, including the Collège de France with Jean-Baptiste Say,
6 Claude-Frédéric Bastiat is usually referred to as Frédéric Bastiat. His short name Frédéric is the one that
appears in all the publications of the author in French. From now on we will either use Frédéric Bastiat or
simply Bastiat.
7 I follow the designation Les optimistes adopted by Charles Gide and Charles Rist in their book Histoire des
doctrines économiques depuis les physiocrates jusqu'à nos jours (1926). Even though their study is quite dated,
it is still one of the best treatments of Bastiat economic works and their context.
8 If Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations gives a special emphasis on the interests of British merchants in the
East Indian trade, most classical writes do not take the same historical treatment of such matters. Bastiat,
analyzing economic policies, such the trade restrictions, emphasizes the interests of specific groups, more often
than not against the general population (of consumers).