S’il existe de nombreuses lois très générales en économie (loi de Malthus, loi de l’offre et de la demande, loi d’Engel, …) qui témoignent du caractère scientifique de la discipline, « les vivres » constituent un champ spécifique, reconnu comme tel, qui débouche sur la...

S’il existe de nombreuses lois très générales en économie (loi de Malthus, loi de l’offre et de la demande, loi d’Engel, …) qui témoignent du caractère scientifique de la discipline, « les vivres » constituent un champ spécifique, reconnu comme tel, qui débouche sur la...

This article examines the foundations of the colonial economics of the liberalism in 1830-1870 in France. The paper illustrates the ambiguous position of liberal economists in the colonial project especially in Algeria. According to the liberal thought, the colonial project is a step toward the...

In the mid-eighteenth century, colonisation was criticised on the grounds that profits from it were captured by private merchants that the colonies prospered in spite of not because of colonial policy, and that benefits accrued to the colonies and other foreign nations but not to the home...

Despite the deep resistance of economists to colonial expansion, the colonial phenomenon had numerous ardent supporters amongst the political, intellectual and industrial circles of Second Empire France. This pro-colonialist position would further blossom during the first years of the Third...

The first French colonial empire which was formed before the beginning of XVIIIth century was justified by the mercantilists of XVIth and XVIIth centuries. However, during the XVIIIth century, the economic thought is more separated. The first liberals are in favour of the keeping of the empire...

This paper reviews the various types of discourse on the poor and on the relationships between poverty and a number of economic and social institutions that were seen alternatively as either solutions to or causes of poverty. At the beginning of the 19th century, the poor were considered...

Breaking with charity toward the poor, Turgot during the second part of the XVIIIth century, makes a new social policy, very modern, by its content, its methods, and by the underlying economic analysis. He explains poverty by economic reasons and not just by individual behaviour. He thinks that...

S’il existe de nombreuses lois très générales en économie (loi de Malthus, loi de l’offre et de la demande, loi d’Engel, …) qui témoignent du caractère scientifique de la discipline, « les vivres » constituent un champ spécifique, reconnu comme tel, qui débouche sur la...

After the French revolution, the collapse of the French colonial empire is confirmed, even though at the beginning of the new century, Napoleon tried to subdue again lost colonies. This decline is accompanied by a very important criticism from economists, against the colonial institutions and...