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.
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.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
1
Chapter I.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5
II.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
13
III.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
16
IV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
24
V.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
39
VI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
45
VII. Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Wax-lights, Lamps, Candlesticks, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and of the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Rosin, Alcohol, and, generally, of everything connected with Lighting
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
49
VIII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
63
IX.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
54
X.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
58
XI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
60
XII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
64
XIII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
69
XIV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
74
XV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
78
XVI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
79
XVII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
80
XVIII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
82
XIX.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
84
XX.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
87
XXI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
92
XXII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
100
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
104
Chapter I.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
111
II.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
128
III.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
136
IV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
139
V.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
142
VI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
151
VII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
159
VIII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
163
IX.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
165
X.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
173
XI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
178
XII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
186
XIII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
200
XIV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
210
XV.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
218
XVI.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
224
XVII.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
230