Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) was a French economist, writer, and politician who argued for free trade and used clear, often satirical essays to expose economic fallacies.

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Opportunity cost: The value of the best alternative forgone when a choice is made. Bastiat’s analysis repeatedly asks what resources could have produced instead.
Bayonne: A port city in southwestern France near the Spanish border. Bastiat was born there in 1801 and later represented the region politically.
Richard Cobden: A British politician and free-trade campaigner who helped lead the Anti–Corn Law League. Cobden’s campaign provided a model for Bastiat’s French free-trade activism.
The Law: Bastiat’s 1850 essay arguing that law should protect life, liberty, and property rather than enable plunder. It presents his political theory in one of his most widely read works.
Public choice theory: The economic study of political decision-making using tools such as incentives and rational choice. Its focus on political incentives echoes Bastiat’s skepticism about state action.
Unintended consequences: Outcomes of an action that differ from what its actors intended. His critiques trace effects beyond the immediate aims of policies.
French Revolution of 1848: The uprising that ended the July Monarchy and established the French Second Republic. Bastiat entered national politics during the republic created by this revolution.
Adam Smith: A Scottish moral philosopher and political economist whose work helped establish classical political economy. Bastiat drew on the tradition of political economy Smith helped shape.
The Candlemakers’ Petition: A satirical essay in which French candlemakers demand protection from competition with the sun. Its absurd demand exposes the logic of tariffs that shield producers from competition.
Bastiat Society: A network of student groups that discusses classical liberal ideas and political economy. Its name and educational mission reflect Bastiat’s continuing influence on liberal advocacy.