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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 16, Obstructed Rivers as Advocates for the Protectionists Oct 22, 2014

Some years ago I was in Madrid, where I attended a session of the Cortes. The subject under discussion was a treaty with Portugal for improving navigation on the Douro. One of the deputies rose and said: "If the Douro is canalized, shipping rates for cargoes traveling on it will be reduced. Portuguese grain will consequently sell at a lower price in the markets of Castile and will provide formidable competition for our domestic industry. I oppose the project, unless our cabinet ministers agree to raise the customs duty so as to redress the balance." The assembly found this argument...

By Bastiat Institute Vote3 0

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 15, Reciprocity Again Oct 21, 2014

M. de Saint-Cricq inquires: "Are we sure that foreigners will buy from us as much as they sell to us?" M. de Dombasle would like to know: "What reason have we to believe that English producers will look to our country, rather than to any other, for the products they may need, or that the value of what they import from us will equal that of their exports to us?" I marvel how men who call themselves practical above everything else can employ reasoning so completely divorced from all practice!

By Bastiat Institute Vote5 1

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 14, Conflict of Principles Oct 20, 2014

One thing that confuses me is this: Sincere political theorists, after studying economic problems solely from the producers' point of view, arrive at the following two conclusions: "Governments should compel the consumers who are subject to their laws to do what is beneficial for domestic industry. "Governments should make foreign consumers subject to their laws in order to compel them to do what is beneficial for domestic industry."

By Bastiat Institute Vote3 0

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 13, Theory and Practice Oct 19, 2014

We advocates of free trade are accused of being theorists, of not taking practice sufficiently into consideration. "In what a frightfully prejudicial light M. Say is put," observes M. Ferrier, "by that long line of distinguished administrators and that imposing band of writers who disagreed with his views!

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 12, Does Protectionism Raise Wage Rates? Oct 18, 2014

An atheist was railing against religion, against priests, and against God. "If you keep on like this," said one of his listeners, who was not very orthodox himself, "you are going to make a pious man of me."

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 11, Money Prices Oct 17, 2014

Do you wish to decide between free trade and protectionism? Do you wish to appreciate the significance of an economic phenomenon? Inquire into the extent of its effects upon the abundance or the scarcity of commodities, and not upon a rise or a fall in prices. Beware of thinking in terms of money prices; they will only lead you into an inextricable labyrinth.

By Bastiat Institute Vote3 1

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 10, Reciprocity Oct 16, 2014

We have just seen that whatever makes transportation more expensive acts in the same way as a protective tariff; or, if you prefer, that a protective tariff acts in the same way as anything that makes transportation more expensive. It is thus accurate to say that a protective tariff is like a marsh, a rut, a gap in the route, or a steep hill—in a word, it is an obstacle whose effect is to increase the difference between the price the producer receives and the price the consumer pays. It is likewise incontestable that marshes and bogs are, in effect,...

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 9, An Immense Discovery! Oct 15, 2014

At a time when everyone is trying to find a way of reducing the costs of transportation; when, in order to realize these economies, highways are being graded, rivers are being canalized, steamboats are being improved, and Paris is being connected with all our frontiers by a network of railroads and by atmospheric, hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, and other traction systems; when, in short, I believe that everyone is zealously and sincerely seeking the solution of the problem of reducing as much as possible the difference between the prices of commodities in the places where they are produced and their prices...

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 8, Differential Tariffs Oct 14, 2014

An impoverished farmer of the Gironde had lovingly tended a vine slip. After much fatigue and toil he finally had the good fortune to harvest enough grapes from it to make a cask of wine, and he forgot that each drop of this precious nectar had cost his brow a drop of sweat. "I shall sell it," he told his wife, "and with the price I shall buy enough material to enable you to furnish a trousseau for our daughter."

By Bastiat Institute Vote3 0

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 7, A Petition Oct 13, 2014

From the Manufacturers of Candles, Tapers, Lanterns, Candlesticks, Street Lamps, Snuffers, and Extinguishers, and from the Producers of Tallow, Oil, Resin, Alcohol, and Generally of Everything Connected with Lighting. To the Honorable Members of the Chamber of Deputies. Gentlemen: You are on the right track. You reject abstract theories and have little regard for abundance and low prices. You concern yourselves mainly with the fate of the producer. You wish to free him from foreign competition, that is, to reserve the domestic market for domestic industry.

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 6, The Balance of Trade Oct 12, 2014

Our opponents have adopted a tactic that puts us in a most embarrassing position. When we expound our doctrine, they accept it in the most respectful manner possible. When we attack their principles, they abandon them with the best grace in the world. They ask only that our doctrine, which they accept as true, be relegated to books, and that their principles, which they admit to be faulty, constitute the rule in the realm of practical affairs. Grant them the management of tariffs, and they will leave to you the domain of theory.

By Bastiat Institute Vote5 0

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 5, Our Products Are Burdened with Taxes Oct 11, 2014

This is the same sophism. People demand that a tariff be levied on a foreign product in order to neutralize the effects of a domestic tax imposed upon the same product when it is made in France. The issue here is the same as the one we have just considered, namely, that of equalizing the conditions of production. We have little more to say on the subject. The domestic tax is an artificial obstacle that has exactly the same result as a natural obstacle, which is to force a rise in the price. If the price rises to the point...

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 4, Equalizing the Conditions of Production Oct 10, 2014

It has been said.... but, in order to avoid being charged with putting sophisms into the mouths of the protectionists, I prefer to let one of their most vigorous champions speak for them.

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 3, Effort and Result Oct 9, 2014

We have just seen that there are obstacles between our wants and their satisfaction. We succeed in eliminating these obstacles or in lessening them by employing our productive capacities to overcome them. Thus, it may be said, in a very general way, that industry is an effort followed by a result. But what constitutes the measure of our well-being, that is, of our wealth? Is it the result of the effort? Or is it the effort itself? There is always a ratio between the effort applied and the result obtained. Does progress consist in the relative increase in the first...

By Bastiat Institute Vote4 0

Economic Sophisms: Chapter 2, Obstacle and Cause Oct 6, 2014

To regard the obstacle as the cause—to mistake scarcity for abundance—is to be guilty of the same sophism in another guise. It deserves to be studied in all its forms. Man in the primitive state is destitute of everything. Between his destitution and the satisfaction of his wants there is a multitude of obstacles, which it is the goal of labor to surmount. It is curious to inquire how and why these very obstacles to his well-being have come to be mistaken for its cause.

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Economic Sophisms: Chapter 1, Abundance and Scarcity Oct 3, 2014

Which is preferable for man and for society, abundance or scarcity? "What!" people may exclaim. "How can there be any question about it? Has anyone ever suggested, or is it possible to maintain, that scarcity is the basis of man's well-being?" Yes, this has been suggested; yes, this has been maintained and is maintained every day, and I do not hesitate to say that the theory of scarcity is by far the most popular of all theories. It is the burden of conversations, newspaper articles, books, and political speeches; and, strange as it may seem, it is certain that political...

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Economic Sophisms: First Series, Author’s Introduction to the French Edition Oct 1, 2014

I have attempted, in this brief volume, to refute some of the arguments that are raised against the introduction of free trade. I am not engaging here in controversy with the protectionists. Rather, I am trying to instill a principle into the minds of sincere men who hesitate to take a stand on the issue because they are in doubt. I am not one of those who say that the advocates of protectionism are motivated by self-interest. Instead, I believe that the opposition to free trade rests upon errors, or, if you prefer, upon half-truths. The mistrust of free trade...

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Economic Sophisms: Introduction, by Henry Hazlitt Sep 29, 2014

Frédéric Bastiat was born at Bayonne, France, on June 29, 1801. His father was a wholesale merchant, but Frédéric was orphaned at the age of nine and was brought up by his grandfather and his aunt. He seems to have had a good, though not an extraordinary education, which included languages, music, and literature. He began the study of political economy at nineteen and read principally Adam Smith and Jean-Baptiste Say. Bastiat's early life, however, was not primarily that of a scholar. At the age of seventeen he went to work in his uncle's counting-house and spent about six years...

By Bastiat Institute Vote9 0

The Soul of Liberty — Public Works Sep 22, 2014

When a government decides to employ more inspectors, more teachers, more drivers, etc., it is generally seen as a net gain for society, as it is said to provide jobs while attempting to meet the demand for much needed services. But in most cases that's where the story ends and the negative consequences of this economic interventionism go unconsidered.

By Bastiat Institute Vote4 0

Bastiat Debates Proudhon: 16. The Last Word Aug 29, 2014

Bastiat gets the last word in this debate, giving his version of a recap.   The case is heard and the debate is closed, proclaims M. Proudhon, making himself a judge in his own cause. M. Bastiat is condemned ... to death. I condemn him in his intelligence; I condemn him in his attention, in his comparisons, in his memory, and in his judgment; I condemn him in his reason; I condemn him in his logic; I condemn him by induction, by syllogism, by contradiction, by identity, and by antinomy. Oh! monsieur Proudhon, you must have been in quite a...

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