ABSTRACT
If one wanted to give a complete list of the works that have been published and which are, closely or distantly, related to the economy of societies, this catalogue would form a great volume. It would be necessary to join into it what has been written, not only on speculative politics, on natural and positive law, but also on population, commerce, industrial arts, finance, monies, etc. The only catalogue that has been published on political economy proper would already be considerable, for there are few subjects on which it is as easy to discourse without prior study. Society presents at each instant new phenomena, of which everyone believes themselves entitled to exercise judgment, without noticing that there is not one of these phenomena that is not derived from a thousand others that have not been sufficiently studied. No one is eager to learn, each believes himself entitled to teach it.
