Abstract
This article traces economists’s attitudes towards government intervention since the term ‘laissez-faire’ was first used in late 17th- or early 18th-century France. Understanding of the term has changed significantly since then. Adam Smith, popularly associated with laissez-faire, had a much more nuanced and pragmatic view of the role of the state, as did many of the classical economists and their neoclassical successors. Dissatisfaction with certain aspects of industrial capitalism led to a more interventionist stance during the 20th century, though the second half of the century saw something of a reversion towards the classical approach.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Balisciano, M.L. 1998. Hope for America: American notions of economic planning between pluralism and neoclassicism. History of Political Economy 30(Suppl): 153–78.
Barber, W.J. 1985. From new era to new deal: Herbert Hoover, the economists, and American economic policy, 1921–1933. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barber, W.J. 1996. Designs within disorder: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the economists, and the shaping of American economic policy, 1933–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cairnes, J.E. 1870. Political economy and laissez-faire. In Essays on political economy. London: Macmillan, 1873.
Castelot, E. 1987. Laissez-faire, laissez-passer: History of the maxim. In The New Palgrave: A dictionary of economics, vol. 3, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman. London: Macmillan.
Faccarello, G. 2000. Foundations of laissez-faire: The economics of Pierre de Biosguilbert. London: Routledge.
Friedman, M., and R. Friedman. 1979. Free to choose. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Gamble, A. 2006. Hayek on knowledge, economics and society. In The Cambridge companion to Hayek, ed. E. Feser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gash, N. 1989. Review of Hilton 1988. English Historical Review 104: 136–40.
Hayek, F.A. 1937. Economics and knowledge. Economica N.S. 4(13): 33–54.
Hayek, F.A. 1944. The road to Serfdom. London: Routledge.
Hayek, F.A. 1999. Good money. In The collected works of F.A. Hayek, ed. S. Kresge. London: Routledge.
Hilton, B. 1988. The age of atonement: The influence of evangelicalism on social and economic thought, 1785–1865. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hutchison, T.W. 1953. A review of economic doctrines, 1870–1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hutchison, T.W. 1978. On revolutions and progress in economic knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Keynes, J.M. 1923. A tract on monetary reform. In The collected works of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 4. London: Macmillan, 1971.
Keynes, J.M. 1926. The end of laissez faire. In Essays in persuasion. In the collected writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 9. London: Macmillan, 1972.
Keynes, J.M. 1936. The general theory of employment, interest and money. In The collected writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 7. London: Macmillan, 1973.
Laidler, D.W. 1999. Fabricating the Keynesian revolution: Studies of the inter-war literature on money, the cycle, and unemployment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
List, F. 1856. The national system of political economy. New York: Kelley, 1966.
Maloney, J. 2005. The political economy of Robert Lowe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Marshall, A. 1890. The principles of economics, 8th ed. London: Macmillan, 1920.
Mill, J.S. 1848. Principles of political economy, with some of their applications to social philosophy. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill, vol. 2–3, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965.
Mill, J.S. 1859. On liberty. New York: Classics of Liberty Library, 1992.
Mill, J.S. 1861. Considerations on representative government. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill: Essays on politics and society, vol. 19, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977.
Mill, J.S. 1862. Centralisation. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill: Essays on politics and society, vol. 19, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977.
von Mises, L. 1912. The theory of money and credit. Trans. H.E. Bateson. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1980.
North, D. 1691. Discourses upon trade. London: Thomas Basset.
O’Brien, D.P. 2004. The classical economists revisited. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Oncken, A. 1886. Die Maxime Laissez Faire et Laissez Passer. Bern: Wyss.
Pigou, A.C. 1912. Wealth and welfare. London: Macmillan.
Pigou, A.C. 1920. The economics of welfare. London: Macmillan.
Robbins, L.C. 1952. The theory of economic policy in English classical political economy. London: Macmillan.
Rothschild, E. 2001. Economic sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the enlightenment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Samuels, W.J. 1966. The classical theory of economic policy. Cleveland: World.
Samuelson, P.A. 1955. Economics, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
Sidgwick, H. 1904. Principles of political economy. London: Macmillan.
Sidgwick, H. 1907. The methods of ethics, 7th ed. London: Macmillan. Reprinted Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981.
Smith, A. 1759. The theory of moral sentiments. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 1, ed. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1759.
Smith, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 2, ed. R.H. Campbell, A. Skinner, and W.B. Todd. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, A. 1978. Lectures on jurisprudence. In The works and correspondence of Adam Smith, vol. 5, ed. R.L. Meek, P.G. Stein, and D.D. Raphael. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Viner, J. 1960. An intellectual history of laissez faire. Journal of Law and Economics 3: 49–69.
Walras, L. 1954. Elements of pure economics: Or the theory of social wealth. Trans. W. Jaffe. Philadelphia: Orion.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Backhouse, R.E., Medema, S.G. (2018). Laissez-faire, Economists and. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2206
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2206
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences