The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• George B. De Huszar, Preface to the English-language Edition
• F. A. Hayek, Introduction
• 1: What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen 1
• 1. the Broken Window
• 2. the Demobilization
• 3. Taxes
• 4. Theaters and Fine Arts
• 5. Public Works
• 6. Middlemen
• 7. Restraint of Trade
• 8. Machines
• 9. Credit
• 10. Algeria
• 11. Thrift and Luxury
• 12. the Right to Employment and the Right to Profit
• 2: The Law 1
• 3: Property and Law 1
• 4: Justice and Fraternity 1
• 5: The State 1
• 6: Property and Plunder *
• First Letter 1
• Second Letter
• Third Letter
• Fourth Letter
• Fifth Letter
• Protest of M. Considérant and Reply of F. Bastiat. 14
• 7.: Protectionism and Communism
• 8.: Plunder and Law 1
• 9.: Academic Degrees and Socialism
• 10: Declaration of War Against the Professors of Political Economy 1
• 11: Speech On the Suppression of Industrial Combinations 1
• 12: To the Democrats
• 13: The Balance of Trade 1
• About the Publisher
• Additional Books By Frédéric Bastiat
• The Law
• Economic Harmonies
• Economic Sophisms

Preface to the English-Language Edition

Frédéric Bastiat wrote numerous essays or pamphlets which he used to promote his ideas and to combat errors. Many of his important essays or pamphlets are included in this volume. Of these, "The Law" and "What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen" are well known; others are not so familiar. Henry Hazlitt in his Economics in One Lesson said this regarding "What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen": "The following work may, in fact, be regarded as a modernization, extension, and generalization of the approach found in Bastiat's pamphlet." The Editor is responsible for the arrangement of the essays in the present volume.

This translation follows as faithfully as possible the original French standard edition of the complete works of Bastiat. Cross references have been included among the three volumes of the present translation.

Three types of notes are included: Translator's notes are directed at the general reader and are mainly about persons and terms. Editor's notes refer to notes by the editor of the French edition; Bastiat's notes stand without such notations. Only the Translator's notes are at the bottom of the page; Editor's notes and Bastiat's notes are at the end of the volume. The latter two are more important but were put at the back to avoid cluttering the pages and to promote readability. Where the French editor has indicated a cross reference to a chapter or passage in either Economic Harmonies or Economic Sophisms, the original reference to the French edition has been replaced by one directing the reader to the English translation.

Although these three volumes of English translations of Bastiat are published simultaneously, there is some repetition of the Translator's notes and the editorial Prefaces. This is necessary because some may obtain only one volume of this three-volume series, and therefore each volume has been made as self-sufficient as possible.

The Editor wishes to express his appreciation to Seymour Cain, to W. Hayden Boyers, to F. A. Hayek for writing the Introduction, to Arthur Goddard, and to the William Volker Fund.

George B. de Huszar