James d. Gwartney

Questions for thought
1. The proponents of government spending on sports stadiums often argue that this
spending expands employment. Evaluate this view.
2. The U.S. federal government spends billions of dollars subsidizing agriculture. Do
these subsidies increase employment and output? Explain.
Return to Element 1.12
1. This pamphlet, published in July, 1850, is the last that Bastiat wrote. It had been promised to the public for more than a year.
Its publication had been delayed because the author had lost the manuscript when he moved his household from the rue de
Choiseul to the rue d'Algen. After a long and fruitless search, he decided to rewrite his work entirely, and chose as the
principal basis of his demonstrations some speeches recently delivered in the National Assembly. When this task was finished,
he reproached himself with having been too serious, threw the second manuscript into the fire, and wrote the one which we
reprint.—Editor. 
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2. Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790-1869), one of the great poets of French romanticism and subsequently a
distinguished statesman. First elected Deputy in 1834, he attained his greatest glory at the time of the Revolution of 1848,
when he was a prime mover in the establishment of the Republic. By his eloquence he calmed the Paris mobs that threatened
to destroy it and became the head of the provisional government. More an idealist and orator than a practical politician,
however, he soon lost influence and retired to private life in 1851.—Translator. 
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3. See chap. 3 of Economic Harmonies.—Editor. 
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4. This refers to the Great Exhibition, in Hyde Park, London, in 1851, sponsored by the London Society of Arts, an association
devoted to the development of arts and industries. The first in a series of great international exhibitions, or "world fairs," it was
famous for the Crystal Palace, a remarkable architectural structure, in which the exhibitions were displayed. Albert, Queen
Victoria's Prince Consort, presided over the exhibition.—Translator. 
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5. i.e., from City Hall to the theatrical suppliers on the Left Bank.—Translator. 
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