Laissez-faire economic policy was largely influenced by which economist?
|
This article traces economists’s attitudes towards government intervention since the term ‘laissez-faire’ was first used in late 17th- or early 18th-century France. Understanding of the term has changed significantly since then. Adam Smith, popularly associated with laissez-faire, had a much more nuanced and pragmatic view of the role of the state, as did many of the classical economists and their neoclassical successors. Dissatisfaction with certain aspects of industrial capitalism led to a more interventionist stance during the 20th century, though the second half of the century saw something of a reversion towards the classical approach. Show Keywords
JEL Classifications
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution. Balisciano, M.L. 1998. Hope for America: American notions of economic planning between pluralism and neoclassicism. History of Political Economy 30(Suppl): 153–78. CrossRef Google Scholar Barber, W.J. 1985. From new era to new deal: Herbert Hoover, the economists, and American economic policy, 1921–1933. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossRef Google Scholar Barber, W.J. 1996. Designs within disorder: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the economists, and the shaping of American economic policy, 1933–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossRef Google Scholar Cairnes, J.E. 1870. Political economy and laissez-faire. In Essays on political economy. London: Macmillan, 1873. Google Scholar Castelot, E. 1987. Laissez-faire, laissez-passer: History of the maxim. In The New Palgrave: A dictionary of economics, vol. 3, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar Faccarello, G. 2000. Foundations of laissez-faire: The economics of Pierre de Biosguilbert. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Friedman, M., and R. Friedman. 1979. Free to choose. New York: Harcourt Brace. Google Scholar Gamble, A. 2006. Hayek on knowledge, economics and society. In The Cambridge companion to Hayek, ed. E. Feser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar Gash, N. 1989. Review of Hilton 1988. English Historical Review 104: 136–40. CrossRef Google Scholar Hayek, F.A. 1937. Economics and knowledge. Economica N.S. 4(13): 33–54. CrossRef Google Scholar Hayek, F.A. 1944. The road to Serfdom. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Hayek, F.A. 1999. Good money. In The collected works of F.A. Hayek, ed. S. Kresge. London: Routledge. Google Scholar Hilton, B. 1988. The age of atonement: The influence of evangelicalism on social and economic thought, 1785–1865. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Google Scholar Hutchison, T.W. 1953. A review of economic doctrines, 1870–1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Hutchison, T.W. 1978. On revolutions and progress in economic knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar Keynes, J.M. 1923. A tract on monetary reform. In The collected works of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 4. London: Macmillan, 1971. Google Scholar Keynes, J.M. 1926. The end of laissez faire. In Essays in persuasion. In the collected writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 9. London: Macmillan, 1972. Google Scholar Keynes, J.M. 1936. The general theory of employment, interest and money. In The collected writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 7. London: Macmillan, 1973. Google Scholar Laidler, D.W. 1999. Fabricating the Keynesian revolution: Studies of the inter-war literature on money, the cycle, and unemployment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar List, F. 1856. The national system of political economy. New York: Kelley, 1966. Google Scholar Maloney, J. 2005. The political economy of Robert Lowe. London: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossRef Google Scholar Marshall, A. 1890. The principles of economics, 8th ed. London: Macmillan, 1920. Google Scholar Mill, J.S. 1848. Principles of political economy, with some of their applications to social philosophy. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill, vol. 2–3, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. Google Scholar Mill, J.S. 1859. On liberty. New York: Classics of Liberty Library, 1992. Google Scholar Mill, J.S. 1861. Considerations on representative government. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill: Essays on politics and society, vol. 19, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Google Scholar Mill, J.S. 1862. Centralisation. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill: Essays on politics and society, vol. 19, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Google Scholar von Mises, L. 1912. The theory of money and credit. Trans. H.E. Bateson. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1980. Google Scholar North, D. 1691. Discourses upon trade. London: Thomas Basset. Google Scholar O’Brien, D.P. 2004. The classical economists revisited. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar Oncken, A. 1886. Die Maxime Laissez Faire et Laissez Passer. Bern: Wyss. Google Scholar Pigou, A.C. 1912. Wealth and welfare. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar Pigou, A.C. 1920. The economics of welfare. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar Robbins, L.C. 1952. The theory of economic policy in English classical political economy. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar Rothschild, E. 2001. Economic sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the enlightenment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar Samuels, W.J. 1966. The classical theory of economic policy. Cleveland: World. Google Scholar Samuelson, P.A. 1955. Economics, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw Hill. Google Scholar Sidgwick, H. 1904. Principles of political economy. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar Sidgwick, H. 1907. The methods of ethics, 7th ed. London: Macmillan. Reprinted Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981. Google Scholar Smith, A. 1759. The theory of moral sentiments. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 1, ed. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1759. Google Scholar Smith, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 2, ed. R.H. Campbell, A. Skinner, and W.B. Todd. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Smith, A. 1978. Lectures on jurisprudence. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 5, ed. R.L. Meek, P.G. Stein, and D.D. Raphael. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978. Google Scholar Viner, J. 1960. An intellectual history of laissez faire. Journal of Law and Economics 3: 49–69. CrossRef Google Scholar Walras, L. 1954. Elements of pure economics: Or the theory of social wealth. Trans. W. Jaffe. Philadelphia: Orion. Google Scholar Download references Author informationAuthors and Affiliations
Authors
Editor informationEditors and AffiliationsCopyright information© 2008 The Author(s) About this entryCite this entryBackhouse, R.E., Medema, S.G. (2008). Laissez-faire, Economists and. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2206-1 Which economists use the term laissezIn a similar vein, Adam Smith viewed the economy as a natural system and the market as an organic part of that system. Smith saw laissez-faire as a moral program and the market its instrument to ensure men the rights of natural law. By extension, free markets become a reflection of the natural system of liberty.
Who were the main laissezLaissez-faire was popularized by the economists/philosophers John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith in the 1800s. By the turn of the century, it was the dominant economic practice.
|
