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Article: Laissez-Faire
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LAISSEZ-FAIRE
LAISSEZ-FAIRE,
a French term that translates loosely as "let things alone," originated in the eighteenth century with a school of French economists, known as the Physiocrats, who opposed trade restrictions that supported older economic systems such as mercantilism. Adam Smith, an eighteenth-century Scottish economist, popularized the term and gave it added influence in later economic thought. He argued that a society's economic well-being and progress are assured when individuals freely apply their capital and labor without state intervention. The theory holds that individuals act out of self-interest and that self-interested action will benefit the larger community's ...
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Article: laissez-faire
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition;
700+ words
...laissez-faire [Fr.,=leave alone], in economics ... Formulations of the Doctrine Historically, laissez-faire was a reaction against mercantilism ... first formulated the principles of laissez-faire. With the physiocrats, state ...
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