Evenings on Saint-Lazare Street
1849
Summary
A series of Socratic dialogues in the style of Bastiat — Molinari's contemporary and colleague — in which an economist, a conservative, and a socialist debate the foundations of political economy. Molinari uses the dialogue form to demolish protectionism, monopoly, and state intervention while defending free trade and natural economic law. Written the same year as *The Production of Security* and the same year Bastiat published *The Law*, the Soirées capture the energy of the 1849 liberal movement in France and remain a vivid introduction to classical liberal economics.