French liberal economist known for Say's law
Born at Lyon in 1767, he learned commerce in England and during the Revolution edited La Décade philosophique, expounding the doctrines of Adam Smith. In 1799 he became one of the hundred members of the Tribunate of the Consulate, and in 1803 he published his main work, the Traité d'économie politique. Removed from the Tribunate in 1804 for refusing to bend his views to Napoleon, he set up and ran a cotton-spinning mill. After the Restoration a chair of industrial economy was created for him at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in 1819, and in 1831 he became professor of political economy at the Collège de France. He popularised Say's law, often summed up as supply creating its own demand, and was one of the first economists to study the entrepreneur. He died in 1832.
Activities and affiliations
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1799–1804
Consulate and First Empire state institutionsMember of the Tribunate
Legislature and state representation -
1819–1830
French monarchy state institutionsChair of industrial economy, Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers
Education -
1831–1832
France state institutionsProfessor of political economy, Collège de FranceMain
Scholarship and theory
Career Timeline
- 1794–1800Editor of La Décade philosophique
- 1799–1804Member of the Tribunate
- 1803Traité d'économie politique
- 1819–1832Chair of industrial economy, Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers
- 1831–1832Professor of political economy, Collège de France