ABSTRACT
Public charity can be considered as an encouragement society gives to a population it cannot sustain. The more such charity is sustained and well organized, the more efficiently this encouragement operates, as in England, to the prejudice of society. Sismondi’s writings are ambiguous on the role of government in political economy. On the one hand, he professes to be an advocate of economic freedom, a disciple of Adam Smith. On the other hand, a major part of his work is a call for governmental restraint on unfettered economic instincts. Sismondi always saw population increases as a function of social institutions, and therefore subject to human will and change. This contrasts vividly with Malthus’s assumption, so quaintly put: “That the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state”.
