Frédéric Bastiat
Frédéric Bastiat | |
|---|---|
| Member of the French National Assembly | |
| In office 1848 – 24 December 1850 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Claude-Frédéric Bastiat 30 June 1801 Bayonne, France |
| Died | 24 December 1850 (aged 49) Rome, Papal States |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | Cobden, Dunoyer, Say, Hume, Gibbon, Voltaire, Rousseau, Smith, Turgot |
| Academic work | |
| School or tradition | French liberal school |
| Notable ideas | Legal plunder Parable of the broken window The Law |
| Part of a series on |
| Liberalism |
|---|
| Part of the behavioral sciences |
| Economics |
|---|
| Principles of Economics |
Claude-Frédéric Bastiat (/bɑːstiˈɑː/; French: [klod fʁedeʁik bastja]; 30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French liberal school.
A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the parable of the broken window. He was described as "the most brilliant economic journalist who ever lived" by economic theorist Joseph Schumpeter.
As an advocate of classical economics and the economics of Adam Smith, his views favored a free market and influenced the Austrian School. He is best known for his book The Law, where he argued that law must protect rights such as private property, not "plunder" others' property.