Catéchisme d'économie politique
Rare first edition self-published by the author of this work intended to make Political Economy accessible to all.
12mo, vi and 160 pp. Contemporary blue waiting wrapper, label on spine, untrimmed copy.
184 x 108 mm.
Say, Jean-Baptiste. Catechism of Political Economy, or Familiar Instruction Showing How Wealth is Produced, Distributed and Consumed in Society; A Work Based on Facts, and Useful to the Different Classes of Men, in That It Points Out the Advantages that Each Can Derive from His Position and Talents.
Paris, Imprimerie de Crapelet, 1815.
Contemporary pamphlet.
Rare first edition printed at the author’s expense of this work intendedto make Political Economy accessible to all.
Carpenter, XXXV; Goldsmiths', 21108; Kress B., 6577; En Français dans le texte, 207. Not in Einaudi.
“ Born in Lyon to a Protestant merchant family, Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) studied commerce in England, discovered Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and became a convert to Political Economy, of which he became one of the ‘founders’ and its very effective propagator, no longer just for the use of governments but for all producers. In 1817, his Catechism of Political Economy was intended to widely disseminate new knowledge. Independent, generous, and optimistic in spirit, Say delivered a synthesis of classical economic thought (mercantilists, physiocrats, and Adam Smith) which he would enrich. Within an essentially liberal economy, he organized the elements of economics by focusing his analysis on production. He originated the idea of the ‘Law of Markets’ or ‘Say's Law’. The fertility of the production concept and the law of markets assured Say’s fame in France and abroad” (En Français dans le texte).
Jean-Baptiste Say was deeply convinced that the science of political economy would only truly benefit nations when its principles were known by the majority of citizens. He believed that its effects would remain very limited as long as it was known only to a small number of adepts.
He therefore sought to condense them into a small number of pages to make them accessible to the less fortunate. In 1815, he published his Catechism of Political Economy, which had several editions and was translated into most European languages.
As a popularizer of Smith’s doctrine, Jean-Baptiste Say gave it a distinctly French stamp. He completed the removal of outdated, though still persistent, physiocratic ideas.
An enemy of any form of intervention, Say’s anti-statist position is clearly evident in his ideas.
His theoretical and descriptive conception of political economy would leave a long-lasting mark on the French school.
Provenance: Library of Baron H. F. C. Tann, with library stamp.
This German bibliophile collected important works in literature and economics preserved in their original pamphlets.
