A Treatise on Political Economy

by Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy

Overview

A Treatise on Political Economy by Antoine 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 Jean-Baptiste Say, Marquis de Condorcet, and Pierre Cabanis.

In this volume, Destutt de Tracy provides one of the clearest statements of the economic principles of the Idéologues. Placing the entrepreneur at the center of his view of economic activity, he argues against the 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865978133
Publisher:	Liberty Fund, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/27/2011
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

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

Editorial Reviews

This moderately priced edition of his [Tracy’s] work on political economy … will certainly facilitate discussion of early French liberal doctrine. It also shows some of the distant origins of present-day arguments about the size of government and public debt.

History of Economic Thought and Policy
February 2012

From the Publisher