1st Edition

Jean-Baptiste Say Revolutionary, Entrepreneur, Economist

By Evert Schoorl Copyright 2013
    252 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    232 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This volume is the first full-length biography of Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), the most famous French classical economist. During his lifetime Say actively took part in three revolutions: the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of economics as an academic discipline. He struggled with Bonaparte, was the owner of a cotton spinning mill, and published his famous Treatise of political economy and many other economic writings.

    1. Youthful Revolutionary  2. At the Crossroads of Literature, Politics and Economics  3. A dissident under the consulate  4. Reluctant Entrepreneur  5. A rentier in a depressed economy  6.  Spying in Britain  7. A dissident during the Restauration  8. Late Recognition  9. The Final Years  10. Among Masters, Peers and Students  11. Alive after 200 years.

    Biography

    Evert Schoorl was director of graduate studies in the economics department at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

    "[Evert Schoorl] has given us a life that will be used productively by scholars of Say's ideas for many years to come." - Thomas Hopkins, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2013

    "This is the kind of book that ought to make the history of economic thought an essential part in the education of any economist. It adds depth to what you think you know already, adds in much you may not have known before, and makes you think about economic theory in a different way, deepening your understanding of how economies work.

    Evert Schoorl’s Jean-Baptiste Say: Revolutionary, Entrepreneur, Economist is surprisingly the first biography of Say ever written. It thus discusses the life of one of the most influential economists who has ever lived and whose work still has much to offer to both economists and historians of thought. … the most judicious short discussion of two centuries of debate over the law of markets to be found anywhere… Evert Schoorl has told an exceptionally important story in an exceptionally interesting way." -Steven Kates, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia)