A lot of people like to make fun of the French. I don’t. France’s intellectual heritage is among the world’s finest. Even though contemp0rary politics there are decidedly illiberal, France was home to many of liberalism’s brightest lights.
The French Enlightenment gave the world Diderot, the encyclopedist; Voltaire, the conscience of Europe; Montesquieu’s grand narratives of history; Helvetius’ pre-Bentham utilitarianism; and Condorcet’s infinitely perfectible man. And that’s just for starters.
Economists everywhere owe a huge debt to the Physiocrats, especially Turgot and Quesnay, for what they taught a young Adam Smith when he traveled to France. Many of their lessons found their way into the Wealth of Nations. Bastiat, 160 years after his death, remains one of the discipline’s sharpest wits and most effective popularizers.
Add to that the deliciousness of French food and the fact that Gojira, one of my favorite metal bands, hails from Bayonne (video below), and the dramatic achievements of Corneille and Racine, and one can see why I think the French don’t deserve to be the butt of so many jokes.
Which brings me to today’s fun fact: the world’s first academic journal exclusively devoted to economics was founded in France. The Journal Oeconomique was founded in 1751, a full quarter of a century before the Wealth of Nations was published in 1776. Other pre-Smithian economics journals included the Gazette du Commerce and the Journal de l’Agriculture, du Commerce et des Finances.
Something to keep in mind next time you crack a joke about France.
Inertia Wins! 