- 著者
-
田中 拓道
- 出版者
- 経済学史学会
- 雑誌
- 経済学史研究 (ISSN:18803164)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.52, no.1, pp.20-34, 2010 (Released:2019-08-20)
The purpose of this article is to examine the
changes in the role played by the government in
the market according to the theories of the
French political economy from the 1780s to the
1830s. These theories are generally regarded as
the precursors of “economics.” This article reveals
that these theories attempt to use the market
politically aiming to develop the people’s
“well-being” or “happiness,” and to redefine the
government’s role in the market. At the beginning
of nineteenth century, J. B. Say and C. Dunoyer
emphasized the political significance of a
free industrial market. According to them, it enables
the people’s “moeurs” to be independent and
self-disciplined, so as to establish a post-revolutionary
political order. Some contemporary political
economists such as J. Droz and M. T.
Duchâtel doubted the compatibility between the
accumulation of wealth and the development of
“happiness” of the people. They asserted the
need for elementary education as it leads to the
redistribution of “new wealth.” Moreover, social
economists from the 1830s, such as A. de Villeneuve-
Bargemont and E. Buret, emphatically
discussed the perverse effect of industrialization,
stating that the concentration of capital inevitably
caused the pauperization of most of the people.
They believed that the new role of the government
should be the “moralization” of the poor
through the organization of intermediate groups
such as religious associations, saving associations,
charity groups, mutual societies, and patriarchal
families.
JEL classification numbers: B 25, B 31