Raised by his paternal grandparents from the age of ten, Bastiat left school when he was seventeen and worked in the family exporting business in Bayonne. At the age of twenty-five, he inherited the family estate at Murgon on the death of his grandfather. For the remainder of his life, Bastiat pursued scholarly interests, primarily in economics and social issues. In 1846, he founded the Association for Free Trade (Associations pour la Liberte Echanges) and was always a proponent of anti-protectionism in commerce. He was also fervently against socialism and produced a number of essays attacking it during the revolutionary period of 1848-49. His most important works included Economic Sophisms (1845), Laissez-Faire (1850), Petition of the Candlemakers (1850), That Which is Seen and That Which is not Seen (1850), The Law (1850), and Economic Harmonies (1850). |
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