Jean-Baptiste Say: His Life
Say was born in Lyons, France in January 5, 1767. His family were Huguenot textile merchants. In 1787, after spending two years in England apprenticed to a merchant, Say took a job at an insurance company in Paris. Say was overjoyed by the French Revolution and soon became an influential member of a group of strongly pro-free market intellectuals. Say's reputation caused him to be nominated to the Tribunate in 1799, sitting in the finance section. However, in 1804 he was forced to leave this position because he refused to rewrite sections of his book Treatise on Political Economy that Napoleon Bonaparte disagreed with. Say moved to Pas-de-Calais and set up a cotton factory at Auchy-les-Hesdins. He grew very rich. In 1812, Say sold his shares and returned to Paris. Later he began lecturing in economics at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers where he was the Chair of Industrial Economy and then moved on to the College de France in 1831, shortly before his death. Say died in Paris in November 15, 1832.Jean-Baptiste Say: His Work
Say read the work of Adam Smith in the early 1790s. Afterwards he was responsible for introducing much of the work of Adam Smith to Europe. Say served as the editor of their journal, La Décade philosophique from 1794 to 1800.Jean-Baptiste Say: Treatise on Political Economy
In 1803, Say published his most famous work, Treatise on Political Economy. It was in the Treatise that Say outlined his famous "Law of Markets". Briefly this law, often known as “Say's Law” states that total demand in an economy cannot exceed or fall below total supply in that economy. This idea, and others in Treatise on Political Economy were considered very radical and Say was unable to publish the second edition of his book until after the fall of Napoleon in 1814.In addition to his famous Treatise, his works included Cours Complet d Economie Politique Pratique and Letters to Mr. Malthus. By means of his writing, his influence spread across the Western World.
Jean-Baptiste Say: Major Works
- Olbie, ou essai sur le moyens de réformer les moeurs d'une nation, 1800.
- Traité d'économie politique, ou simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent, et se composent les richesses, 1803
- A Treatise on Political Economy, or the production, distribution and consumption of wealth, 1803 (Engl. transl.)
- De l'Angleterre et des Anglais, 1815.
- Cathechism of Political Economy, 1815. (French version)
- Petit volume contenant quelques aperçus des hommes et de la société, 1817.
- Des canaux de navigation dans l'état actuel de la France, 1818
- De l'importance de le port de la Vilette, 1818
- Cours à l'Athénée de Paris, 1819.
- Lettres à M. Malthus sur différent sujets d'économie politique, notamment sur les causes de la stagnation générale du commerce, 1820.
- "Letters to Thomas Robert Malthus on Political Economy and Stagnation of Commerce", 1821, (transl. of 1820), The Pamphleteer
- "Sur la balance des consommations avec les productions", 1824, Revue Encyclopédique.
- "Examen Critique du discours de M. MacCulloch sur l'économie politique", 1825, Revue Encyclopédique.
- "De l'économie politique moderne, esquisse générale de cette science, de sa nomenclature, de son histoire et de sa bibliographie", 1826, Encylopédie progressive.
- "De la crise commerciale", 1826, Revue Encyclopédique
- "Compte rendu de Malthus "Definitions in Political Economy", 1827, Revue Encyclopédique
- "Discours d'ouverture au cours d'économie industrielle", 1828
- Cours complet d'économie politique pratique, 1828.
- Mélange et correspondence d'economie politique, 1833.
- Oeuvres diverses de J.-B. Say, 1848.
