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Anniversaries of Note in 2012: People

PEOPLE

The following authors should be remembered in 2012 for having reached a significant milestone. [More on the terminology used.]

Anniversaries of the births and deaths of important people (details below) [More about finding People on the OLL]:

  1. the centennial (100th) of the birth of the American monetarist economist Milton Friedman (1912-2007)
  2. the centennial (100th) of the birth of the British economist Vera C. Smith (1912-1976)
  3. the centennial (100th) of the death of the English radical individualist Thomas Mackay (1849-1912)
  4. the centennial (100th) of the death of Belgian/French economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912)
  5. the bicentennial (200th) of the birth of the Victorian English journalist Samuel Smiles (1812-1904)
  6. the tricentennial (300th) of the birth of the Welsh minister and economist Josiah Tucker (1712-1799)
  7. the tricentennial (300th) of the birth of the Swiss novelist and political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
  8. the semiseptcentennial (350th) of the birth of the English Radical Whig and Commonwealthman John Trenchard (1662-1723)

[See other Anniversaries of Note]

 

1. The centennial (100th) of the birth of the American monetarist economist Milton Friedman (1912-2007)

Milton Friedman (1912-2007) is the author of many books and articles in economics, including A Theory of the Consumption Function, The Optimum Quantity of Money and Other Essays, and (with A. J. Schwartz) A Monetary History of the United States, Monetary Statistics of the United States, and Monetary Trends in the United States and the United Kingdom. Friedman has also written extensively on public policy, always with a primary emphasis on the preservation and extension of individual freedom. His most important books in this field are (with Rose D. Friedman) Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago Press, 1962); Bright Promises, Dismal Performance (Thomas Horton and Daughters, 1983), which consists mostly of reprints of columns he wrote for Newsweek from 1966 to 1983; (with Rose D. Friedman) Free to Choose (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), and (with Rose D. Friedman) Tyranny of the Status Quo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984).
Works by this author: /person/141

 

2. The centennial (100th) of the birth of the British economist Vera C. Smith (1912-1976)

Vera C. Smith (1912-1976) was born in England in 1912. She spent her professional life in a variety of research positions and wrote many articles on money, banking, the theory of the firm, economic development, and the labour market. Her books include Italy, a Study in Economic Development (1962) and Central Planning for the Market Economy (1969). She collaborated on several works with her husband, the well-known German economist Friedrich Lutz. She also translated into English books by Wilhelm Roepke, Oskar Morgenstern, and Fritz Machlup. She died in Switzerland in 1976.
Works by this author: /person/4092

 

3. The centennial (100th) of the death of the English radical individualist Thomas Mackay (1849-1912)

Thomas Mackay (1849-1912) was a successful Scottish wine merchant who retired early from business so he could devote himself entirely to the study of economic issues such as the Poor Laws, growing state intervention in the economy, and the rise of socialism. Mackay was asked by the individualist and laissez-faire lobby group, the Liberty and Property Defense League, to put together a collection of essays by leading classical liberals to rebut the socialist ideas contained in Fabian Essays in Socialism edited by George Bernard Shaw in 1889. The result was A Plea for Liberty (1891) and A Policy of Free Exchange (1894).
Works by this author: /person/186

 

4. The centennial (100th) of the death of Belgian/French economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912)

Gustave de Molinari was born in Liège on March 3, 1819 and died in Adinkerque on January 28, 1912. He was the leading representative of the laissez-faire school of classical liberalism in France in the second half of the 19th century and was still campaigning against protectionism, statism, militarism, colonialism, and socialism into his 90s on the eve of the First World War. As he said shortly before his death, his classical liberal views had remained the same throughout his long life but the world around him had managed to turn full circle in the meantime.
Works by this author: /person/136

 

5. The bicentennial (200th) of the birth of the Victorian English journalist Samuel Smiles (1812-1904)

Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) was a Scot who originally trained as a doctor before turning to journalism full-time. Smiles wrote for a popular audience to show people how best to take advantage of the changes being brought about by the industrial revolution which was sweeping Britain and other parts of the world in the first half of the 19th century. In his best known work, Self-Help (1859) he combines Victorian morality with sound free market ideas into moral tales showing the benefits of thrift, hard work, education, perseverance, and a sound moral character. He drew upon the personal success stories of the emerging self-made millionaires in the pottery industry (Josiah Wedgwood), the railway industry (Watt and Stephenson), and the weaving industry (Jacquard) to make his point that the benefits of the market were open to anyone.
Works by this author: /person/190

 

6. The tricentennial (300th) of the birth of the Welsh minister and economist Josiah Tucker (1712-1799)

Josiah Tucker (1712-1799) was the Dean of Gloucester between 1758 and 1790 and an important precursor of the Physiocrats and Adam Smith. He was quite laissez faire in his views on trade and a supporter of American independence.
Works by this author: /person/4161

 

7. The tricentennial (300th) of the birth of the Swiss novelist and political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a Swiss philosopher and novelist who was an important figure in the Enlightenment. In his novels and discourses he claimed that civilization had weakened the natural liberty of mankind and that a truly free society would be the expression of the “general will” of all members of that society. He influenced later thinkers on both ends of the political spectrum.
Works by this author: /person/3803

 

8. The semiseptcentennial (350th) of the birth of the English Radical Whig and Commonwealthman John Trenchard (1662-1723)

John Trenchard (1662-1723) was a radical Whig and Commonwealthman who, along with his collaborator Thomas Gordon (1692-1750), were important voices defending constitutionalism and individual liberty in the 1720s in England. Trenchard came from a prominent family, went to Trinity College, Dublin, and briefly served in the House of Commons. He worked as a journalist in the 1690s writing works criticising the idea of standing armies and the political power of the established church. Trenchard co-wrote The Independent Whig (1720-21) and Cato’s Letters (1720-23) with Gordon. He was a defender of the idea of liberty against political corruption, imperialism and militarism in the early 18th century. Their writings, especially Cato’s Letters, were also much read in the American colonies.
Works by this author: /person/3799