Bastiat-Proudhon Debate Online

03/12/2008 Mises Wire Ryan P. Long

Over the course of several months from late 1849 through early 1850, French classical liberal economist Frédéric Bastiat and French anarcho-socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon conducted a lengthy debate on the nature and legitimacy of interest. In 1879, an English translation (by American individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker) appeared but incomplete, and in an obscure venue. Thus most of this debate has not been widely available in English since 1879; and parts of it (including Bastiats final reply to Proudhon) have never been translated into English until now. Check out the Bastiat-Proudhon Debate.

Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.

What Is The Mises Wire?

Mises Wire offers contemporary news and opinion through the lens of Austrian economics and libertarian political economy.

Submitting articles to Mises Wire

Reprints, Permissions and Copyrights

The views expressed on Mises Wire and mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.

Subscribe to the Mises Wire

Latest Articles

Disparate Impact Is a Legal Trick

11/23/2024 Mises Wire Wanjiru Njoya

One of the most destructive fallacies of critical race theory is its insistence that racial disparities are caused by discrimination. The CRT premise is that any gap in racial attainment calls for an...

Liberty Squandered: The English Tradition from Magna Carta to Empire

11/23/2024 Mises Wire Vibhu Vikramaditya

The identity of a people often shapes the nature and trajectory of their government. In England, a deep-rooted belief in individual liberty has profoundly influenced the nation’s legal and cultural...

Distress in Commercial Real Estate Bonds Hits All-Time High

11/22/2024 Mises Wire Artis Shepherd

Commercial real estate continues to suffer despite the Federal Reserve’s attempt at ameliorating the capital markets with a 50-basis point rate cut in September. The pain is especially apparent in the...

Draper on War: When Is War Just?

11/22/2024 Mises Wire David Gordon

War and Individual Rights by Kai Draper; Oxford University Press, 2016, xii + 254 pp. Many people make fun of analytic philosophy because of its use of imaginary cases, often elaborated with what...

Logs Only Roll In One Direction: Fighting Kinetic Energy

11/22/2024 Power & Market Jim Fedako

Before anyone gets their hopes up about a reduction in government expenditures resulting from the upcoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), remember that, once rolling, a log rolls in one...

Meet the Writer

Ryan P. Long

Ryan P. Long works as a consultant and analyst in Ottawa, Canada. He has authored and coauthored articles for trade...

Are Government Jobs Productive?

11/01/2011 Mises Daily Ryan P. Long

The government creates a demand for these services out of thin air: the existence of ambassadors is what leads to the work done by ambassadors. They do not take their services to market to sell them to anyone who happens to be a willing buyer.

The ‘Ground-Zero Mosque’ and Grand Staircase Escalante

09/02/2010 Mises Daily Ryan P. Long

Regarding the media frenzy about the “Ground-Zero Mosque,” Ryan Long asks: if the land surrounding the World Trade Center is so sacrosanct for some Americans, why haven’t they purchased it themselves?

Subscribe to our Mailing Lists

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member