What Is Free Trade?

Frederick Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly. Bastiat worked in his family's exporting business. This gave him first-hand knowledge of some of the effects of trade regulations on the market. His intellectual interests included philosophy, history, politics, religion, travel, poetry, political economy, and biography. His most famous work was The Law, originally published as a pamphlet in 1850. It defines a just system of laws and then demonstrates how such law facilitates a free society. What is Free Trade? is an adaptation of Frederic Bastiat's "Sophismes conimiques" designed for the American reader. Bastiat begins his work with the question "Which is better for man and for society--abundance or scarcity?"