Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A Treatise on Political Economy by Antonie Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836) is a foundational text of nineteenth-century, free-market economic thought and remains one of the classics of nineteenth-century French economic liberalism. Destutt de Tracy was one of the founders of the classical liberal republican group known as the Idéologues, which included Benjamin Constant, Jean-Baptiste Say, Marquis de Condorcet, and Madame de Staël.
In this volume, Destutt de Tracy provides one of the clearest statements of the economic principles of the Idéologues. Breaking with the physiocratic orthodoxy of the eighteenth century, Destutt de Tracy denies that land is the source of all productive labor and focuses his attention upon manufacturing and manufacturers as the producers of utility and, therefore, of value and of wealth. Placing the entrepreneur at the center of his view of economic activty, he argues against luxurious consumption of the idle rich and recommends a market economy with low taxation and minimum state intervention.
Destutt de Tracy sent the text of A Treatise on Political Economy to Thomas Jefferson in hopes of securing its translation in the United States. It was met with enthusiastic approval. Jefferson wrote to the publisher, "The merit of this work will, I hope, place it in the hands of every reader in our country."Jeremy Jennings is Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary, University of London.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction to the Liberty Fund Edition ix
Note on the Text xxi
v1 'Treatise on Political Economy
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Milligan
3
Prospectus, by Thomas Jefferson
5
Advertisement
9
Abstract, or Analytical Table
13
Supplement to the First Section of the Elements of Ideology
31
Introduction to the Second Section of the Elements of Ideology, or a Treatise on the Will and Its Effects
53
First Part of the Treatise on the Will and Its Effects: Of Our Actions
Chapter 1 : Of Society
93
Chapter 2 : Of Production, or of the Formation of Our Riches
103
Chapter 3 : Of the Measure of Utility or of Values
108
Chapter 4 : Of the Change of Form, or of Manufacturing
Industry, Comprising Agriculture
113
Chapter 5 : Of the Change of Place, or of Commercial Industry
133
Chapter 6 : Of Money
139
Chapter 7 : Reflections on What Precedes
160
Chapter 8 : Of the Distribution of Our Riches amongst Individuals
163
Chapter 9 : Of the Multiplication of Individuals, or of Population
170
Chapter 10 : Consequences and Developments of the
Two Preceding Chapters
176
Chapter 1 1 : Of the Employment of Our Riches, or of Consumption
197
Chapter 12 : Of the Revenues and Expenses of a
Government, and of Its Debts
217
Chapter 13 : Conclusion
252
Index
257