Bastiat, Frédéric

(1810-1850)

   economist, philosopher, statesman

   Born near Bayonne, the son of a merchant in the Spanish trade, Frédéric Bastiat had limited success working in trade and farming on the family estate at Mugron. He became a strong proponent of free trade, following the principles of the British economist Richard Cobden. Bastiat founded a society for that purpose and also edited the society's journal. After the revolution of 1848, he spent a number of years combating the growth of socialism, especially that of pierre proudhon. In August 1848, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly and in May 1949, to the Legislative Assembly. His works include Harmonies économiques (1848), Propriété et loi (1849), and Protectionisme et communisme (1850). As an economist and thinker, Bastiat is considered a partisan of "optimistic liberalism," in contrast to the views of Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo.