Frédéric Bastiat was a member of the French liberal school, which thoroughly dominated economics in France from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the 1880s and continued to exert a strong intellectual influence right up to the eve of World War One. Joseph Salerno writes that he was neither the school’s founder, nor its most profound theorist, nor even the most consistent defender of the laissez-faire implications of its economic theories. He was however the most gifted expositor of its politico-economic doctrines, and as such, is the economist associated with this school whose name evokes greatest recognition among contemporary Anglo-American economists. Thus he refers to “Bastiat’s school.” FULL ARTICLE
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It’s frightening that the liberal school dominated France up to 1880, and then France went so totally socialist and remains there. What caused the French insanity? What does the French experience say about the future of liberal economics in the US and Europe?
This is a good article. I see somebody has already submited it to digg.
http://digg.com/business_finance/The_Neglect_of_Bastiat_s_School_by_English_speaking_Economists
Tracy
Roger M asks, “What does the French experience say about the future of liberal economics in the US and Europe?”
Professor Salerno addresses that question in the talk he gave last summer called “Forerunners of the Austrian School: The French Liberal School” (audio | video).
Short summary: the French liberals made the mistake of recruiting the State to help spread economic education. Of course, it is not in the interest of the State to do any such thing. The result is the “French insanity” you refer to.
To avoid repeating the same mistake, classical liberal economics needs institutional support funded entirely privately. Sound familiar?
1871 was also the year the Second Empire was overthrown and the republic restored. I think that deserves a mention.
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