A Treatise On Political Economy

"A Treatise on Political Economy"by Antonie Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836) is a foundational text of nineteenth-century, free-market economic thought and remains one of the classics of nineteenth-century French economic liberalism. Destutt de Tracy was one of the founders of the classical liberal republican group known as the Ideologues, which included Benjamin Constant, Jean-Baptiste Say, Marquis de Condorcet, and Madame de Stael.In this volume, Destutt de Tracy provides one of the clearest statements of the economic principles of the Ideologues. Breaking with the physiocratic orthodoxy of the eighteenth century, Destutt de Tracy denies that land is the source of all productive labor and focuses his attention upon manufacturing and manufacturers as the producers of utility and, therefore, of value and of wealth. Placing the entrepreneur at the center of his view of economic activty, he argues against luxurious consumption of the idle rich and recommends a market economy with low taxation and minimum state intervention.Destutt de Tracy sent the text of "A Treatise on Political Economy "to Thomas Jefferson in hopes of securing its translation in the United States. It was met with enthusiastic approval. Jefferson wrote to the publisher, "The merit of this work will, I hope, place it in the hands of every reader in our country."Jeremy Jennings isProfessor of Political Theory at Queen Mary, University of London. "

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) was one of the first great economists to have laid down the foundations of economic science. Author of the famous Treatise on Political Economy in 1803, which was revised and re-edited on several occasions, he published numerous other works including a voluminous Complete Course in Practical Political Economy in 1828–9. He also taught political economy successively from 1815 until his death in three Parisian establishments: the Athénée, the Conservatory of Arts and Trades, and the Collège de France. The texts in which Say exposes his approach to political economy have not been available in the English language until now except for the fourth edition of the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ which serves as an introduction to the Treatise. This book presents a translation which renders his works accessible to the English speaking world. For the first time, English readers will be able to become directly immersed in Say’s principal texts, where he develops his conception of political economy. Jean-Baptiste Say and Political Economy proposes a translation of a selection of eleven of Say’s texts. The first three are versions of the ‘Preliminary Discourse’ from the Treatise’s editions of 1803, 1814 and 1826 with the variations of the editions of 1817, 1819 and 1841. The following four texts are the opening discourses pronounced at the Conservatory in 1820 and 1828 and the Collège de France in 1831 and 1832. The eighth text is the ‘General Considerations’ which open the Complete Course in Practical Political Economy of 1828, with the variations of the 1840 re-edition. The final three texts are those Say devotes to ‘the progress of political economy’ in what is akin to a history of economic thought. This volume is of great importance to economic historians and people studying Jean-Baptiste Say, as well as those who are interested in economic theory and philosophy and political economy.

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) has been described as a revolutionary, an author of scholarly books and popular tracts, a social philosopher, a successful entrepreneur-a remarkable Renaissance man. He is best known as author of the law of markets, known as Say's law, and as the first to coin the term "entrepreneur." Say's concern with the average interested citizen and his zeal for economic education for the masses is most apparent in his classic work, A Treatise on Political Economy. Readers will see that Say is without doubt a luminary of classical economics. He single-handedly revived the study of political economy from its decline and kept it alive during a difficult period of opposition to liberal ideas. Say had a missionary belief that society will be best served if the principles of political economy are widely disseminated and understood by the citizenry. His organization of the Treatise's subject matter-production, distribution, and consumption of wealth-continues to guide authors of economic textbooks to this day. His treatment of the role of the entrepreneur as a contributor to production different from that of either the manager or the capitalist was the most advanced of his times. In their new introduction, Quddus and Rashid note that present-day readers of this volume will benefit from the remarkable freshness of Say's ideas. The longevity of this volume proves that good ideas can successfully withstand the test of time. The role played by the Treatise in spreading liberal economic ideas and especially laissez-faire and free trade in France, the rest of Europe, and in the newly independent United States must also be appreciated. One suspects Say would have liked nothing better than to have his Treatise attract entrepreneurs, managers, and other non-specialist readers to economics. Given the emphasis on capitalism, free markets and unrestricted global trade republication of this great classic could not be more timely. Political economists, social philosophers, and those in business fields will find it indispensable reading.