Hey guys I just bought the audiobook of Frédéric Bastiat’s “the law”, I plan on listening to it in the evenings this week and am just wondering if there is anything I should keep in mind while I listen to him. Regarding theories that may have been proven wrong by his successors.
Thanks!
Bastiat is primarily a populist writer and this treatise in particular is populist, so it doesn’t really put forward any “theories” that could be disproven. Bastiat’s style is conversational and his arguments are nothing more than common-sense carefully articulated and applied to the myths and fallacies that were prevalent in his day and are just as prevalent - if not more so - today. I think The Law is a great companion to Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson - between them, you have a populist introduction to the basics of liberal theory regarding economics, politics and law.
Clayton -
Awesome, you’ve fueled my excitement. Thank you
I’ll second Clayton’s assessment and add that Hazlitt noted Bastiat’s “That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen” formed the basis for Economics in One Lesson.
If you’d like a textual version of the book to go along with your audio, you can find it in the links section here.
thank you for the link!