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• The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat
• General Editor’s Note
• Note On the Translation
• Note On the Editions of the Œuvres Complètes
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Political Pamphlets As Models of Applied Economics
• Eyewitness to Political and Economic Upheavals (1848–50)
• Republicanism and Universal Suffrage
• State Education
• Hayek and Spontaneous Order
• Peace, Liberty, and Taxes
• The Left, Taxes, and Trade Unions
• The Economists, the Socialists, and Legal Plunder
• Freedom to Exchange
• Conclusion
• Frédéric Bastiat Chronology
• “the Law,” “the State,” and Other Political Writings, 1843–1850
• 1: Reflections On the Petitions From Bordeaux, Le Havre, and Lyons Relating to the Customs Service 1
• 2: The Tax Authorities and Wine 1
• 3: On the Wine-growing Question
• 4: Property and Law
• 5: Justice and Fraternity 1
• 6: Individualism and Fraternity
• 7: The State
• 8: The State (draft)
• 9: The Law
• 10: Property and Plunder 1
• First Letter
• Second Letter
• Third Letter
• Fourth Letter
• Fifth Letter
• Claim Made By M. Considérant and F. Bastiat’s Reply
• 11: Baccalaureate and Socialism 1
• 12: Protectionism and Communism
• 13: Plunder and Law 1
• 14: The War Against Chairs of Political Economy 1 , 2
• 15: Peace and Freedom Or the Republican Budget 1
• 16: Discourse On the Tax On Wines and Spirits 1 , 2
• 17: The Repression of Industrial Unions 1
• 18: Reflections On the Amendment of M. Mortimer-ternaux 1
• 19: Parliamentary Conflicts of Interest 1 , 2
• Bastiat’s Political Writings: Anecdotes and Reflections
• The Law-abiding Revolutionary
• The State As the “great Fiction”
• Bastiat’s Publisher, the Librairie De Guillaumin
• Bastiat’s Editor and Executor, Prosper Paillottet (1804–78)
• The Concept of Individualism
• The Idea of Laissez-faire
• The Concepts of “industry” and “plunder” (spoliation)
• The Right to Work Vs the Right Or Freedom of Working
• Classical Liberal Vs Socialist Utopias
• The Cause of Bastiat’s Untimely Death
• Speaking Truth to Power: “the Miller of Sans-souci”
• Glossary of Persons
• Glossary of Places
• Glossary of Subjects and Terms
• Bibliographical Note On the Works Cited In This Volume
• Bibliography
• Primary Sources
• Works By Bastiat
• Works By Other Authors Cited In the Text, Notes, and Glossaries
• Secondary Sources

Bibliographical Note on the Works Cited in This Volume

In the text, Bastiat cites or alludes to many literary, political, and economic works. We have listed these works with a full citation in the bibliography of primary sources. In the glossaries, if a work is cited, we have given only the title of the work and the date when it was first published, so that its historical context might be appreciated, for example, Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762); the bibliography, however, might cite a different edition, depending on the source or reason for the citation.

In the bibliography of primary sources, we have tried, if possible, to cite editions published during Bastiat’s lifetime that he might well have used. For example, the third edition of the complete works of Rousseau appeared in seventeen volumes in 1830–33: Œuvres complètes de J.-J. Rousseau, avec les notes de tous les commentateurs. The edition by Hiard of The Social Contract might have also been used by Bastiat: Du contrat social, ou principes du droit politique. Or, for example, a three-volume collected works of Maximilien Robespierre was published in the late 1830s as the French socialist movement was beginning to grow on the eve of the 1848 revolution. This is the edition Bastiat most likely had access to: Œuvres de Maximilien Robespierre, avec une notice historique et des notes, par le citoyen Laponneraye.

Bastiat was oft en quite cavalier in citing the sources he used, not providing page references let alone identifying the chapters. Where we have been able to locate the quotation, we have given the book number, chapter number, and the title of the chapter. Sometimes we have been able to locate the exact edition of a work Bastiat used, and in those instances, we have provided page numbers to that work.

If we have not been able to locate the exact edition of a work Bastiat used but have found the exact location of the quotation in a different (sometimes, modern) edition, we have cited and provided the page numbers to that work. For example, in the chapter “Baccalaureate and Socialism,” Bastiat quotes oft en from Rousseau. We have been able to locate many of those quotations, with page numbers, in a 1975 edition of Rousseau’s works, Du contrat social et autres œuvres politiques.

For background information about key concepts and biographical details of political figures and authors we have frequently consulted Le Dictionnaire de l’économie politique (1852–53). Bastiat was closely connected to the group of classical liberal political economists in Paris during the 1840s: he was a member of the Société d’économie politique (founded 1842); he wrote many articles for Le Journal des économistes (founded 1841); he published his books and pamphlets with the Guillaumin publishing house (which also published Le Journal des économistes and the Dictionnaire); he wrote two key articles for the Dictionnaire, “Abondance” (Wealth) and “Loi” (Law); and he was quoted in many other articles, most notably in the key article in the Dictionnaire, “L’État” (The State).

In some cases Bastiat does not quote an author or authors directly but paraphrases their ideas in his own words. For example, in a speech in the Chamber of Deputies he might refer to his socialist opponents as “they” and “quote” a number of their ideas in a paragraph in which he paraphrases their thoughts. In cases like this we have made no effort to track down and cite the source of each of these individual ideas or thoughts.