All Posts Tagged With: "Frederic Bastiat"
Basis of Liberty
In one of his fables Aesop said: “A horse and a stag,
feeding together in a rich meadow, began fighting
over which should have the best grass.The stag with
his sharp horns got the better of the horse. So the horse
asked the help of man. And man agreed, but suggested
that his help might be more effective if he were permitted
to ride the horse and guide him as he thought best.
So the horse permitted man to put a saddle on his back
and a bridle on his head.Thus they drove the stag from
the meadow. But when the horse asked man to remove
the bridle and saddle and set him free, man answered, ‘I
never before knew what a useful drudge you are. And
now that I have found what you are good for, you may
rest assured that I will keep you to it.’”
Liberty: The Other Equality
Equality is an ideal upheld by a number of ideologies,
but nowadays it is seldom associated with
libertarianism or classical liberalism. Indeed, both
libertarians and their critics typically think of equality as
an ideal in tension with the ideal of liberty as libertarians
understand it.
Why Freedom Matters
The future of civilization depends on preserving and spreading freedom. As a moral principle, freedom means we ought to respect private property rights, broadly understood as the rights to life, liberty, and property. As a practical matter, when private property rights are protected by law, individuals will be free to trade for mutual gain and [...]
1Jul2005 | James A. Dorn | 0 comments | ContinuedDestructive Destruction
If we sound like a broken record at times, it’s because sound economic thinking moves slowly through the culture. Case in point: On September 27, USA Today headlined what its reporter and editors must have thought was wonderful news: Economic growth from hurricanes could outweigh costs.” (At this point Dave Barry would say, “I’m not [...]
1Dec2004 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Myth of Wartime Prosperity
Whenever an earthquake or a tornado causes great damage, some reporter somewhere claims that on net it will boost the local economy since the rebuilding effort will create jobs and increase business for local merchants. Similarly, whenever a war breaks out, the same reporter can be counted on to emphasize the economic stimulus it allegedly [...]
1Dec2004 | Thomas E. Woods Jr. | 9 comments | ContinuedFree Trade’s Never-Ending Battle
Arthur Foulkes is a freelance writer living in Indiana. Bastiat, did you live in vain? I can think of few people who did more for the cause of free trade in his lifetime than Frédéric Bastiat. A nineteenth-century French lawmaker, pamphleteer, economist, and philosopher, Bastiat is well known to free-trade advocates even today. His classic [...]
1Sep2004 | Arthur E. Foulkes | 5 comments | ContinuedThere’s Still Work to Do
Free trade is again under assault. If there is one reason for the perennial attack it is likely the one Frédéric Bastiat made so much of: the failure to look for what is “unseen.” The costs of free trade (temporary job loss, closed firms) are easily traced to the free movement of goods, services, and [...]
1Apr2004 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedBastiat, Socialism, and the Blank Slate
“It is evident,” the French economist and parliamentarian Frédéric Bastiat wrote a century and a half ago, “that the socialists set out in quest of an artificial social order only because they deemed the natural order to be either bad or inadequate; and they deemed it bad or inadequate only because they felt that men’s [...]
1Jun2003 | James Peron | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Intellectuals and Interventionism
Many have noted how the political mainstream is defined by a narrow spectrum that varies between moderate and extreme forms of intervention into private affairs. In a short essay published in 1949, “The Intellectuals and Socialism,” F. A. Hayek gave several reasons why intellectuals, or what we today call pundits or political commentators, tend toward [...]
1Jan2003 | Adam Young | 0 comments | ContinuedA Leonard Read for Africa?
A candle has been lit in east Africa. It shows promise of spreading much light where there is now much darkness. In time it may grow to illuminate an entire continent. Its appearance is a testimony to perseverance and the power of ideas, as well as a tribute to this very publication. The candle is [...]
1May2002 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedBastiat and Unionism
On November 17, 1849, Bastiat delivered a “Speech on the Suppression of Industrial Combinations” in the Legislative Assembly. He spoke in favor of repealing legislation that prevented workers from organizing unions and calling strikes. The speech startled both his traditional adversaries on the left (the socialists) and his occasional allies on the right (the conservatives).
1Nov2001 | Charles W. Baird | 2 comments | ContinuedNo Silver Lining
We often see such comments after a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake. I never expected to see it after the horrors of September 11. But there was Paul Krugman, Ph.D. in economics and a New York Times columnist, writing it on September 14 for all the world to see: Ghastly as it may seem to say [...]
1Nov2001 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedBastiat’s Life
Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) merits a hallowed place in the annals of political economy. A member of the French Liberal, or laissez-faire, school of economists that included the great J. B. Say, Bastiat marshaled logic, clarity, and exuberant wit in the cause of understanding society, prosperity, and liberty. In a series of brief essays and pamphlets, [...]
1Jun2001 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | ContinuedWhat Is Seen and What Is Not Seen
This excerpt is from the first chapter of Selected Essays on Political Economy, translated by Seymour Cain and edited by George B. de Huszar, published by the Foundation for Economic Education. In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these [...]
1Jun2001 | Frederic Bastiat | 96 comments | ContinuedThe Unseen Costs of Disability Laws
Karen Selick is an attorney in Ontario, Canada, and a columnist for Canadian Lawyer, on which this article is based. Her Web site is www.karenselick.com. Copyright 2000. I first heard of Frédéric Bastiat on graduating from high school, when someone who knew of my plans to become a lawyer gave me a copy of his [...]
1Jun2001 | Karen Selick | 0 comments | ContinuedHarmony from Liberty
Contributing editor Norman Barry is professor of social and political theory at the University of Buckingham in the UK. He is the author of An Introduction to Modern Political Theory (St. Martin’s Press). As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Bastiat we are reminded once again of how much contemporary economic [...]
1Jun2001 | Norman Barry | 2 comments | ContinuedBastiat: Champion of Economic Liberty
Richard Ebeling is the president of FEE. When this article first appeared, he was Ludwig von Mises Professor of Economics and chairman of the economics department at Hillsdale College in Michigan. The defense of economic liberty has never been an easy task. Adam Smith expressed his own despair at this problem in The Wealth of [...]
1Jun2001 | Richard M. Ebeling | 0 comments | Continued-
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