Beyond some rudimentary facts, very little is available in English about the life of J.B. Say.  He was born in Lyons, France, to middle-class Huguenot parents, and spent most of his early years in Geneva and London. As a young man, he returned to France in the employ of a life insurance company, and soon became an influential member of a group of strongly pro-free- market intellectuals.  Indeed, Say was the first editor of La Decade Philosophique , a journal published by the group. After the Napoleonic Wars, he held a Chair of Political Economy at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers , and again, later, at the College de France . In addition to his famous Treatise , his works included Cours Complet d Economie Politique Pratique and Letters to Mr. Malthus . By means of his writing, his

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