Knowra Jean-Baptiste Say Jean-Baptiste Say Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) was a French economist, writer, and entrepreneur best known for Say’s law, the claim that producing goods generates income that can support demand for goods.
Say’s law : The proposition that production generates income sufficient to purchase goods, though not necessarily the goods produced. This is the economic principle most closely associated with Say.
Production : The creation of goods and services by transforming inputs through labor, capital, and other resources. Say treated production as the source of income and purchasing power.
Adam Smith : A Scottish moral philosopher and economist whose 1776 book The Wealth of Nations shaped modern political economy. Say helped introduce Smith’s political economy to French readers.
French Revolution : A period of political and social upheaval in France beginning in 1789 and ending with Napoleon’s rise to power. The Revolution shaped Say’s political commitments and early public career.
J. B. Say’s law in macroeconomics : The macroeconomic interpretation of Say’s proposition as a claim about aggregate supply, aggregate demand, and market adjustment. Later economists recast Say’s argument into a macroeconomic principle.
Classical economics : An economic tradition emphasizing production, markets, distribution, and long-run growth, prominent from the late eighteenth century. Say developed his ideas within this tradition.
Income : Money or other value received by individuals and organizations over a period. Production distributes income that can be used to buy output.
Thomas Robert Malthus : An English economist and cleric who argued that demand could be insufficient to purchase a nation’s output. Malthus challenged Say’s confidence that production creates adequate demand.
A Treatise on Political Economy : Say’s economics book, first published in 1803, presenting his account of production, distribution, and consumption. This work set out the ideas that became associated with Say’s law.
Effective demand : The level of aggregate demand that leads firms to employ workers and produce a given output. Keynes used effective demand to explain unemployment in opposition to Say’s law.
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