Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui (; November 21, 1798 – January 28, 1854) was a French
economist. His most important contributions were made in
labour economics,
economic history and especially the
history of economic thought
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
, in which field his 1837 treatise has been the first major work. He was a disciple of
Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say (; 5 January 1767 – 15 November 1832) was a liberal French economist and businessman who argued in favor of competition, free trade and lifting restraints on business. He is best known for Say's law—also known as the law of ...
to whom he succeeded in 1833 to the chair of
political economy at the
Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, and a
free trader.
Life
Blanqui was born at
Nice in November 1798, the son of the
Girondin
The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...
politician
Jean-Dominique Blanqui; the revolutionary
Louis-Auguste Blanqui
Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism.
Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848)
B ...
was his younger brother. He began his career as an instructor, giving his time to chemistry and other sciences allied to medicine, acting as assistant professor of the humanities in the
Institution Massin, a Paris secondary school. This job brought him into connection with Say, who procured for young Blanqui the chair of History and Industrial Economy at the School of Commerce in Paris (now
ESCP Europe).
In 1830, Blanqui rose to the position of director of the school, and in 1833, he succeeded Say in the professor's chair in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. He advocated principles of commercial freedom but also showed sympathy for the working class. As a writer, he was noted for research, lucidity, occasional sallies of wit, brilliant passages and eloquence.
In an article published for the bicentenary of the school in 2019,
Ghislain Deslandes also exhibits his central role in the development of business education in France. As he explains in this text, "combatting ugliness, knowing how to deal with difference, leading by example while keeping pace with technological developments: such are the key messages of Blanqui’s work, and his legacy to posterity. These elements represent the backbone, and reflect the decidedly European character, of Blanqui’s legacy to management teaching and research. To learn about management is to learn about the world, how to interpret and untangle it".
Blanqui was an early member of the
Société d'économie politique
The Société d’Economie Politique () is a French learned society concerned with political economy. It was founded in 1842 to provide a forum for discussion of free trade, a subject of violent debate at the time, and has continued to organize dis ...
organized in 1842 by
Pellegrino Rossi
Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...
.
Blanqui died in
Paris on January 28, 1854.
Works
Blanqui's major work is ''Histoire de l'économie politique en Europe depuis les anciens jusqu'à nos jours'' (1837), translated in English in 1880 as ''History of Political Economy in Europe''.
His other publications include ''Résumé de l'histoire du commerce et de l'industrie'' (1826), ''Précis élémentaire d'économie politique''(1826), ''De la situation économique et morale de l'Espagne'' (1846) and ''Les classes ouvrières en France'' (1848).
Besides journalistic articles, Blanqui published also:8-
*''Travels in England and Scotland'' (1824);
*''Journey to Madrid'' (1826);
*A series of ''Reports on the Products of French Industry in 1827'' (1827);
*''The English Minister Huskisson, and his Economic Reform'';
*''Report on the Economic and Moral Condition of Corsica'' (1838);
*''Report on the Economic Condition of the French Possessions in Algeria'' (1840);
* ;
*''Report on the World's Fair in London'' (1851); and
*''Life and Work of Jean Baptiste Say''.
A series of letters between Blanqui and
Emile de Girardin
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
, in which free trade and protection were discussed, appeared in 1846 and 1847.
References
*"Blanqui, Jérôme-Adolphe", in ''
The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', Eatwell, Milgate, Newman (eds.), 1987.
*Blanqui, Jérôme-Adolphe. 1880. ''History of political economy in Europe.'' Translated by E. J. Leonard. New York: Putnam.
*McCulloch, J.R. (1845). ''The Literature of Political Economy''
*Schumpeter, J.A. (1954). ''History of Economic Analysis''
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanqui, Adolphe
1798 births
1854 deaths
People from Nice
Politicians from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Orléanists
Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy
French economists
French classical liberals
Historians of economic thought