Frederic bastiat biography book

Bastiat struggled his entire life to teach economic truths to every living person. His legacy is monumental and speaks to us today as clearly as it did France in the 19th century.

He would certainly be thrilled by this biography of his life by George Roche. It is written in the style of Bastiat, using evocative language and picturesque settings to describe the man who was Bastiat. He was at once a scientist and moralist who burned with a passionate desire to teach everyone about the blessings of economic liberty. Even on his deathbed he was writing his great treatise on his view of society and economy.

There have been many attempts to write biographies of this man but this one stands above the rest for its sheer readability and for the way the book inspires the reader. It shows that economists are not boring people but that they can be poets who elucidate the beauty of the social order. Certainly that was true in Bastiat’s case.

In so many ways, B

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Frédéric Bastiat

Bastiat was an elected member of various French political bodies and opposed both protection and the rise of socialist ideas in these forums. His writings for a broader audience were very popular and were quickly translated and republished in the U.S. and throughout Europe. His incomplete magnum opus, Economic Harmonies, is full of insights into the operation of the marknad and is still of great interest to economists. He died at a young age from cancer of the throat.

See also our collection of extracts, essays, and other resources about Bastiat.

See the Liberty Matters online discussions on Bastiat and Political Economy and Reassessing Bastiat’s Economic Harmonies After 160 Years

For additional resultat about Frédéric Bastiat see the following: * in the Forum: Essays on Bastiat * at our sister website Econlib: the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics entry on Bastiat

For tables of contents of Bastiat’s Works:

See the Timeline of the Life and Work

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Frédéric Bastiat

French classical liberal theorist and assembly member (1801 – 1850)

"Bastiat" redirects here. For the rugby union player, see Jean-Pierre Bastiat.

Frédéric Bastiat
In office 1848 – 24 December 1850
Born	Claude-Frédéric Bastiat (1801-06-30)30 June 1801 Bayonne, France
Died	24 December 1850(1850-12-24) (aged 49) Rome, Papal States
School or tradition	French liberal school
Influences	Cobden, Dunoyer, Say, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, Rousseau, Smith, Turgot
Contributions	Legal plunder Parable of the broken window The Law

Claude-Frédéric Bastiat (; French:[klodfʁedeʁikbastja]; 30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French liberal school.^[1]

A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the parable of the broken window.^[2] He was described as "