Page "Classical liberalism" Paragraph 31

Jean Baptiste Say was a French economist who introduced Adam Smith's economic theories into France and whose commentaries on Smith were read in both France and Britain.

Say challenged Smith's labour theory of value, believing that prices were determined by utility and also emphasised the critical role of the entrepreneur in the economy.

However neither of those observations became accepted by British economists at the time.

His most important contribution to economic thinking was " Say's law ", which was interpreted by classical economists that there could be no overproduction in a market, and that there would always be a balance between supply and demand.

This general belief influenced government policies until the 1930s.

Following this law, since the economic cycle was seen as self-correcting, government did not intervene during periods of economic hardship because it was seen as futile.