10 Economists Everyone Should Know About
Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)
Born in southern France, orphaned by the age of ten and raised by his grandfather; Frédéric Bastiat grew up during France’s Napoleonic Wars, so he was very familiar with extensive government involvement in economic affairs. Most well known for “The Parable of the Broken Window” and The Law, he was the original “big picture” guy. Always wondering what the economic effects of actions were, not just for the people performing them, but for the community as a whole. Bastiat was able to fiercely defend free markets and illustrate the folly of over-regulation using stories that could be easily understood, and passed on by the common man. He was so ahead of his time that theories he presented (opportunity cost) were not given names until more than fifty years after his death.
