Economic Sophisms

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2545879Economic SophismsPatrick James StirlingFrédéric Bastiat

ECONOMIC SOPHISMS,


BY


FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT.


TRANSLATED FROM THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE FRENCH,


BY


PATRICK JAMES STIRLING, LL.D., F.R.S.E.,


AUTHOR OF "THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE," ETC.




EDINBURGH:

OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT.

LONDON: SIMPKIN. MARSHALL, AND CO.

1873.

EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD,
TWEEDDALE COURT.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.




Bastiat's two great works on Political Economy—the Sophismes Économiques, and the Harmonies Économiques—may be regarded as counterparts of each other. He himself so regarded them: "the one," he says, "pulls down, the other builds up." His object in the Sophismes was to refute the fallacies of the Protectionist school, then predominant in France, and so to clear the way for the establishment of what he maintained to be the true system of economic science, which he desired to found on a new and peculiar theory of value, afterwards fully developed by him in the Harmonies. Whatever difference of opinion may exist among economists as to the soundness of this theory, all must admire the irresistible logic of the Sophismes, and "the sallies of wit and humour," which, as Mr. Cobden has said, make that work as "amusing as a novel."

The system of Bastiat having thus a destructive as well as a constructive object, a negative as well as a positive design, it is perhaps only doing justice to his great reputation as an economist to put the English reader in a position to judge of that system as a whole. Hence the present translation of the Sophismes is intended as a companion volume to the translation of the Harmonies.

It is unnecessary for me to say more here by way of preface, the gifted author having himself explained the design of the work in a short but lucid introduction.

P. J. S.

CONTENTS.


FIRST SERIES.

  1. Page
  2. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    1
  3. Chapter I.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    5
  4. II.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    13
  5. III.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    16
  6. IV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    24
  7. V.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    39
  8. VI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    45
  9. VII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    49
  10. VIII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    63
  11. IX.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    54
  12. X.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    58
  13. XI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    60
  14. XII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    64
  15. XIII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    69
  16. XIV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    74
  17. XV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    78
  18. XVI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    79
  19. XVII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    80
  20. XVIII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    82
  21. XIX.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    84
  22. XX.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    87
  23. XXI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    92
  24. XXII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    100
  25. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    104

SECOND SERIES.

  1. Page
  2. Chapter I.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    111
  3. II.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    128
  4. III.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    136
  5. IV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    139
  6. V.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    142
  7. VI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    151
  8. VII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    159
  9. VIII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    163
  10. IX.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    165
  11. X.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    173
  12. XI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    178
  13. XII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    186
  14. XIII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    200
  15. XIV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    210
  16. XV.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    218
  17. XVI.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    224
  18. XVII.
    ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    230

 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse