ABSTRACT
The French economists clarified and advanced upon many of the concepts expounded in The Wealth of Nations and built upon the sound economic principles developed by Richard Cantillon, Charles Montesquieu, Jacques Turgot, and Etienne Bonnot de Condillac. Of the four greatest economists in the world, three were French. They are Leon Walras, Antoine Cournot, Francois Quesnay and Adam Smith. Adam Smith and the classical laissez-faire economists actually aimed at dismantling the old system of regulations and special privilege, and thus improving the general welfare. The French laissez-faire school dominated Western economic thought for nearly half a century and, in the case of J. B. Say's law, well into the twentieth century. Say was a major supporter of Adam Smith's self-directing economic system of competition, natural liberty, and limited government. Say incorporated the vital role of the entrepreneur in his work. Say extended his argument to economic growth.
