Gustave de Molinari

Gustave de Molinari (March 3, 1819 - January 28, 1912) was a Belgian economist.

All his life, together with the other "Economists" (those who would nowadays be described as classical liberals), he defended peace, free trade, freedom of speech, freedom of association (including into voluntary trade unions), and liberty in all its forms, and opposed slavery, colonialism, mercantilism, protectionism, imperialism, nationalism, corporatism, economic interventionism, government control of arts and education, and all restraints on liberty.

In the 1840s, he was in Paris, and notably took part in the "Ligue pour la Liberté des Échanges" (Free Trade League), animated by Frederic Bastiat. (On his death bed in 1850, Bastiat considered Molinari as the continuator of his works.)

In 1849, Molinari published several essays describing how a free market in justice and protection could advantageously replace the State. Some feel this work makes him effectively the first theorist of anarcho-capitalism. Others disagree with this interpretation and believe that the first anarcho-capitalist could not have existed until the theory solidified under that name nearly 100 years later.

External links

• David Hart's Gustave De Molinari And The Anti-Statist Liberal Tradition
• The Society of Tomorrow by Molinari, published electronically by The Library of Economics and Liberty with annotations, biography, etc.
• Some works by Molinari available in original French from Hervé de Quengo's site.
• The Molinari Institute