118. CHEVALIER Michel, Cours d'économie politique fait au collége de France (.. .).
Brussels 1845, Adolphe Walens, 430 p.
First original edition of the lectures on political economy given by the Author between 1842 and 1843 at the College de France. Michel Chevalier (1806-1879) was a French politician and economist with whom views evolved significantly. After the July Revolution of 1830, he became a supporter of Saint-Simon and Utopian socialism, for which he even went to prison for six months. After his release and his mission to the US and Mexico, where he observed the economy there, he became an advocate of liberalism. During the Second Empire, he was one of France's foremost economists and became one of the authors of the treaty on free trade with Great Britain, the so-called Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860.The subject of this sale is the second part of three published lectures of his at the College de France. The 25 lectures that are the subject of the publication deal with various economic issues, such as the military's participation in the economy and production, historically and contemporarily to the Author. In addition, the lectures are devoted to the topics of state interference in the economy and its reduction to a minimum according to the Author. Key to his liberal views is the need for competition, which drives the economy and leads to both innovation and development and the betterment of consumers. He categorically opposes state participation in industrial production. An interesting example of an economic tract from the first half of the 19th century, when both liberalism and utopian socialism were forged, and finally communism in the form of Marxism.
Binding contemporary, gilt dark brown 3/4 leather in bdb condition; spine gilt and embossed and bind-marked; inside condition db, occasionally stains, but dry, especially at beginning and end of text; overall condition db.
