Bibliography on Say’s Law

Below is a bibliography on the origin, history and nature of Say’s law.

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) produced different versions of the law, in these works:

(1) the first edition of Say’s Traité d’économie politique (1803; or the Treatise on Political Economy in English) has only a brief and not properly formulated version of the law;

(2) the second edition of Traité d’économie politique/Treatise on Political Economy (published in 1814) has the first proper formulation of Say’s law (Baumol 1977: 147).

(3) a summary of the law appears in Say’s Catechism of Political Economy (1816: 103–105).

(4) in the fourth edition of Traité d’économie politique/Treatise on Political Economy (1819) Say revised his remarks on the law in important ways (Heertje 2004: 41).

Moreover, Thweatt (1979: 92–93) and Baumol (2003: 46) conclude that Adam Smith was in fact the real father of what is recognisably Say’s law in Classical economics, with the major work in developing the idea conducted by James Mill (1808), not necessarily Jean-Baptiste Say.

The major work on the law is Steven Kates (ed.), Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2003).



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, William L. 2009. “Say’s Law and the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 12.2: 47–59.

Aspromourgos, Tony. 2009. The Science of Wealth: Adam Smith and the Framing of Political Economy. Routledge, London.

Balassa, Bela A. 1959. “John Stuart Mill and the Law of Markets,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 73.2: 263–274.

Baumol, William J. 1977. “Say’s (at Least) Eight Laws, or What Say and James Mill May Really Have Meant,” Economica n.s. 44.174: 145–161.

Baumol, William J. 1999. “Retrospectives: Say’s Law,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 13.1: 195–204.

Baumol, William J. 2003. “Retrospectives: Say’s Law,” in S. Kates (ed.), Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle, Edward Elgar Pub, Cheltenham and Northampton, Mass. 39–49.

Becker, Gary and William J. Baumol. 1952. “The Classical Economic Theory: The Outcome of the Discussion,” Economica 19: 355–376.

Blaug, M. 1996. Economic Theory in Retrospect (5th edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Blaug, Mark. 1997. “Say’s Law of Markets: What did it mean and Why should We Care?,” Eastern Economic Journal 23.2: 231–235.

Clower, Robert W. and Leijonhufvud, Axel. 1973. “Say’s Principle, What It Means and Doesn’t Mean,” Intermountain Economic Review 4: 1–16.

Clower, Robert W. and Leijonhufvud, Axel. 1984. “Say’s Principle, What it Means and Doesn’t Mean,” in Donald A. Walker (ed.), Money and Markets: Essays by Robert W. Clower. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 145–165.

Cottrell, Allin. 1998. “Keynes, Ricardo, Malthus and Say’s Law,” in James C.W. Ahiakpor (ed.), Keynes and the Classics Reconsidered. Kluwer Academic, Boston, Mass. and London. 63–75.

“Debunking Economics, Part VIII: Macroeconomics, or Applied Microeconomics?,” Unlearning Economics, 26 August, 2012.
http://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/debunking-economics-part-viii-macroeconomics-or-applied-microeconomics/

Gootzeit, M. 2003. “Savings, Hoarding and Say’s Law,” in S. Kates (ed.), Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton, Mass. 168–186.

Gordon, B. J. 1965. “Say’s Law, Effective Demand, and the Contemporary British Periodicals, 1820–1850,” Economica 32: 438–446.

Groenewegen, P. D. 1977. The Economics of A. R. J. Turgot. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.

Heertje, A. 2004. “On Say’s Law,” in Tony Aspromourgos and John Lodewijks (eds.), History and Political Economy. Essays in Honour of P.D. Groenewegen. Routledge, London. 44–56.

Hollander, S. 2005. “Review of Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle,” History of Political Economy 37.2: 382–385.

Horwitz, Steven. 2003. “Say’s Law of Markets: An Austrian Appreciation,” in S. Kates (ed.), Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle. Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, Mass. 82–98.

Hutt, William Harold. 1974. A Rehabilitation of Say’s Law. Ohio U.P., Athens, Ohio.

Johnson, Ivan C. 2001. “A Reappraisal of the Say’s Law Controversy,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 4.4: 25–53.

Jonsson, Petur O. 1995. “On the Economics of Say and Keynes’ Interpretation of Says’s Law,” Eastern Economic Journal 21.2: 147–155.

Jonsson, Petur O. 1997. “On Gluts, Effective Demand, and the True Meaning of Say’s Law,” Eastern Economic Journal 23.2: 203–218.

Jonsson, Petur O. 1998. “Keynes, Ricardo, Malthus and Say’s Law: Comment,” in James C.W. Ahiakpor (ed.), Keynes and the Classics Reconsidered. Kluwer Academic, Boston, Mass. and London.75–84.

Kates, Steven. 1994. “The Malthusian Origins of the General Theory or How Keynes came to write a Book about Say’s Law and Effective Demand,” History of Economics Review 21: 10–20.

Kates, Steven. 1995. “Crucial Influences on Keynes’s Understanding of Say’s Law,” History of Economics Review 23: 74–82.

Kates, Steven. 1996. “Keynes, Say’s Law and the Theory of the Business Cycle,” History of Economics Review 25: 119–126.

Kates, Steven. 1997. “A Discussion of Say’s Law: The Outcome of the Symposium,”Eastern Economic Journal 23.2: 237–239.

Kates, Steven. 1997. “On the True Meaning of Say’s Law,” Eastern Economic Journal 23.2: 191–202.

Kates, Steven. 2002. “Economic Management and the Keynesian Revolution: The Policy Consequences of the Disappearance of Say’s Law,” International Journal of Applied Economics and Econometrics 10.3: 463–479.

Kates, Steven (ed.). 2003. Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle, Edward Elgar Pub, Cheltenham; Northampton, Mass.

Kates, Steven. 2005. “‘Supply Creates Its Own Demand’: A Discussion of the Origins of the Phrase and of its Adequacy as an Interpretation of Say’s Law of Markets,” History of Economics Review 41: 49–60.

Kates, Steven. 2007. “Mill, McCracken and the Modern Interpretation of Say’s Law,” History of Economics Review 46: 32–38.

Kates, Steven. 2008. “A Letter from Keynes to Harlan McCracken dated 31st August 1933: Why the Standard Story on the Origins of the General Theory needs to be Rewritten,” History of Economics Review 47: 39–53.

Kates, Steven. 2010. “Why Your Grandfather’s Economics was better than yours: On the Catastrophic Disappearance of Say’s Law,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 13.4: 3–28.

Keen, S. 2003. “Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink, Say No More,” in S. Kates (ed.), Two Hundred Years of Say’s Law: Essays on Economic Theory’s Most Controversial Principle. Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, Mass. 199–209.
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/papers/KeenNudgeNudgeWinkWinkSayNoMore.pdf

Kent, Richard J. 2005. “Keynes and Say’s Law,” History of Economics Review 41: 61–76.

Lange, O. 1942. “Say’s Law: A Restatement and Criticism,” in O. Lange, F. McIntyre and T. O. Matema (eds), Studies in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics: In Memory of Henry Schultz. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 49–68.

Lange, Oskar. 1994. “Say’s Law: A Restatement and Criticism,” in Tadeusz Kowalik (ed.), Economic Theory and Market Socialism: Selected Essays of Oskar Lange. Elgar, Aldershot, U.K. 213–232.

Mill, James. 1808. Commerce Defended. An Answer to the Arguments by which Mr. Spence, Mr. Cobbett, and Others, have Attempted to Prove that Commerce is not a Source of National Wealth. C. and R. Baldwin, London.

Mises, L. 2005 [1950], “Lord Keynes and Say’s Law,” Mises Daily, April 25, 2005, http://mises.org/daily/1803

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1803. Traité d’économie politique, ou, Simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment les richesses (1st edn.). De Chapelet, Paris.

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1814. Traité d’économie politique, ou, Simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment les richesses (2nd edn.). Antoine-Augustin Renouard, Paris.

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1817. Traité d’économie politique, ou, Simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment les richesses (3rd edn.). Chez Deterville, Paris.

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1819. Traité d’économie politique, ou, Simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment les richesses (4th edn.). Deterville, Paris.

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1821. A Treatise on Political Economy, or, The Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth (trans. from 4th edn by C.R. Prinsep with notes by the translator, with a translation of the introduction and additional notes by C. C. Biddle). Wells and Lilly, Boston.

Say, J. B. 1816. Catechism of Political Economy, or, Familiar Conversations on the Manner in which Wealth is Produced, Distributed, and Consumed in Society (trans. J. Richter). Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London.

Say, J. B. 1821. Letters to Mr. Malthus: On Several Subjects of Political Economy, and on the Cause of the General Stagnation of Commerce. To Which is added A Catechism of Political Economy, Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London.

Say, Jean Baptiste. 1826. Traité d’économie politique, ou, Simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se consomment les richesses (5th edn.). Rapilly, Paris.

Shoul, B. 1957. “Karl Marx and Say’s Law,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 71.4: 611–629.

Skinner, A. S. 1967. “Say’s Law: Origins and Content,” Economica 34: 153–166.

Silva, Antonio Carlos Macedo e. 2004. “From Say’s Law to Keynes, from Keynes to Walras’s Law: Some Ironies in the History of Economic Thought,” in L. Randall Wray and Mathew Forstater (eds.). Contemporary Post Keynesian Analysis. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, Mass. 310–332.

Skinner, A. S. 1969. “Of Malthus, Lauderdale and Say’s Law, Lauderdale and Say’s Law,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 16.2: 177–195.

Smith, A. 1811. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (11 edn; vol. 1), Oliver D. Cooke, Hartford.

Sowell, T. 1972. Say’s Law: An Historical Analysis. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Sowell, T. 1974. Classical Economics Reconsidered. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. and London.

Sowell, T. 1994. Classical Economics Reconsidered (2nd ed.). Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Spengler, Joseph J. 1945. “The Physiocrats and Say’s Law of Markets,” Journal of Political Economy 53: 193–211, 317-347.

Thweatt, W. O. 1979. “Early Formulators of Say’s Law,” Quarterly Review of Economics and Business 19: 79–96.

Thweatt, W. O. 1980. “Baumol and James Mill on ‘Say’s’ Law of Markets,” Economica n.s. 47.188: 467–469.