Ideologies / Classical Liberal / Frédéric Bastiat
Frédéric Bastiat — ink portrait
§ The minds · 1801–1850 · France · Economist & writer

Frédéric Bastiat

The seen and the unseen

Wit against protectionism and plunder.

Economic+60
SocialistMarket
Governance−50
LibertarianAuthoritarian
Social+0
TraditionalProgressive
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The French economist whose satirical essays — the broken window, the candlemakers' petition — remain the sharpest popular case against protectionism.

social

Classical liberal moderate, focused on economic liberty.

economic

Brilliant popleariser of free trade; law should protect property, not redistribute it.

governance

Defined the state as the great fiction by which all seek to live at others' expense.

Notable for
  • 'The Law' (1850)
  • 'That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen'
  • Candlemakers' petition satire
free-tradeopportunity-costanti-protectionism
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