Portrait of Frédéric Bastiat

Author

Frédéric Bastiat

1801–1850

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) is represented at freecapitalists.org by 4 books and 1 lecture, free to download or stream.

Claude Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) was a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government. Perhaps the main underlying theme of Bastiat’s writings was that the free market was inherently a source of “economic harmony” among individuals, as long as government was restricted to the function of protecting the lives, liberties, and property of citizens from theft or aggression. To Bastiat, governmental coercion was only legitimate if it served “to guarantee security of person, liberty, and property rights, to cause justice to reign over all.”

Further reading: Frédéric Bastiat on The Austrian Economics Wiki.

Works in the archive

Cover of The Bastiat Collection

The Bastiat Collection

2011

Cover of The Law

The Law

1874

Cover of The Bastiat Collection-Volume 2

The Bastiat Collection-Volume 2

2007

Cover of The Bastiat Collection-Volume 1

The Bastiat Collection-Volume 1

2007

Recorded teaching

Lectures and courses

1 lectures across 1 course.

Cover of The Law

The Law

1 lectures · Frederic Bastiat

The Law 1 lecture

The Law2:12:32

Companion site

Frédéric Bastiat quotations

15 quotations from Frédéric Bastiat on Quotes from the Liberty Archive, this archive's quote companion. Every one is matched word for word to the archive's own copy of the work it comes from.

“The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense; it is the substitution of collective for individual forces, for the purpose of acting in the sphere in which they have a right to act, of doing what they have a right to do, to secure…”

The Bastiat Collection · See the passage it comes from →
“See whether the law takes from some persons that which belongs to them, to give to others what does not belong to them. See whether the law performs, for the profit of one citizen, and, to the injury of others, an act that this citizen cannot perform…”

The Bastiat Collection · See the passage it comes from →
“Try to imagine a regulation of labor imposed by force that is not a violation of liberty; a transfer of wealth imposed by force that is not a violation of property. If you cannot reconcile these contradictions, then you must conclude that the law cannot…”

The Bastiat Collection · See the passage it comes from →

All 15 Frédéric Bastiat quotations, with the book behind each one

Questions

About Frédéric Bastiat

What by Frédéric Bastiat can I read free here?: This archive holds 4 books and 1 lecture by Frédéric Bastiat, all free to read, download or stream with no signup.
What is Frédéric Bastiat known for?: Claude Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) was a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government.
When did Frédéric Bastiat live?: Frédéric Bastiat lived 1801 to 1850.
Are there recorded lectures by Frédéric Bastiat?: Yes. 1 recording across 1 series, free to stream or download.