jean baptiste say was a french classical liberal economist and scholar born in lyon say had a distinguished career he served on a government finance committee under napoleon and taught political economy at several schools in france his law of markets is a classical economic theory that states that production is the source of demand according to say s law the ability to demand something is financed by supplying a different good 
investopedia alison czinkotaearly life and educationjean baptiste say also known as j b say was born on jan 5 1767 in lyon france he went to school in lyon before moving to london to study business say returned to france in 1787 and lived in paris with his family 1he found work as a secretary in a paris based insurance company run by etienne claviere a politician and financier of the french revolution this was where he first came across adam smith s an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations say was heavily influenced by smith s work and using the connections he made through claviere became a journalist in 1799 say became a member of the tribunate a kind of economic institute which operated under the french government 1 emperor napoleon bonaparte who disliked say s ideas removed say from his post with the institute a few years later say managed to open a cotton spinning mill in 1807 and six years later he sold the business he joined the conservatory of arts and crafts as a chair of industrial economy between 1817 and 1830 he was also a professor at the coll ge de france where he taught political economy say remained at the latter school in his position until he died in 1832 2notable accomplishmentssay was heavily influenced by adam smith and the economic theories he laid out in his 1776 book wealth of nations he was a big proponent of smith s free market theories promoting his laissez faire philosophies and helping to popularize them in france through his academic work and teaching say also expressed the belief that a falling price level could be a positive occurrence if it resulted from productivity gains rather than from deflation say is known for his formulation of say s law of markets or his theory of markets according to the law a buyer must first produce something of value to sell to obtain purchasing power this implies that the effective demand in an economy is the result of previous acts of production as a result there can never be a sustained general oversupply of goods in an economy because producing economic goods is what creates general demand for goods 3say s law does not claim that there can never be imbalances in supply and demand for specific goods but he believed that they tend toward balances as prices adjust and that this process of price adjustment is also critical to balancing the general demand and supply of all goods 4say s economist contemporaries included james mill jeremy bentham and david ricardo published worksjean baptiste say wrote about money and banking and shared his views of taxation as burdensome he s best known for his book titled a treatise on political economy which was published in 1803 4in addition to his famous treatise his other published works include the two volume complete course in practical political economy which was published in 1852 and a collection of his correspondence with fellow economist thomas malthus titled letters to mr malthus this publication discussed and debated his critics theories of economic growth legacysay s law of markets lives on in modern neoclassical economic models which argue that if prices are flexible enough for all markets to clear then the economy will tend toward stability while it implies that the economy is in a sense self regulating so that production is ultimately the source of demand the law has been misinterpreted and frequently taken to mean that supply creates its own demand say was a supporter of free trade and competition and championed fewer restrictions on businesses contemporary economists john maynard keynes and thomas malthus criticized say s law later economists point to keynes as partly or chiefly responsible for the confusion over say s law characterizing keynes s restatement of the law as a straw man that misrepresents say s law in order to further keynes s arguments at the expense of classical economics say s works appearing in english translations found an admiring audience in american founding fathers thomas jefferson and james madison with whom he actively corresponded jefferson was so impressed by say that he encouraged him to move to virginia 5say is credited by robert l formaini in the federal reserve bank of dallas s economic insights publication as among the first economists to discuss entrepreneurship and notions of utility describing entrepreneurs as helpful in meeting human wants 6say co founded the escp europe in 1819 it was considered the first business school in the world 7personal lifejean baptiste say spent some time in the french military where he served in a volunteer battalion in 1793 he married julie gourdel deloches this allowed him to avoid mandatory conscription in the military the couple had two children horace emile say and adrienne say 7say s wife died in 1830 say died on nov 15 1832 he is buried in p re lachaise in paris 8who was jean baptiste say jean baptiste say was a french classical liberal economist born in 1767 say worked in the french government under napoleon who later let him go and as a professor of political economy at various schools in france say was influenced by adam smith who is considered the father of modern economics he used his position to teach smith s beliefs and theories in france his own theories including the law of markets are commonly studied even today say s theory of markets states that society must generate income before people can purchase any goods and services he was also a proponent of competition free trade and lifting restraints on business 