Page "Frédéric Bastiat" Paragraph 1

Bastiat was born in Bayonne, Aquitaine, a port town in the south of France on the Bay of Biscay, on 30 June 1801.

His father, Pierre Bastiat, was a prominent businessman in the town.

His mother died in 1808 when Frédéric was seven years old.

His father moved inland to the town of Mugron with Frédéric following soon after.

The Bastiat estate in Mugron had been acquired during the French Revolution and had previously belonged to the Marquis of Poyanne.

Pierre Bastiat died in 1810, leaving Frédéric an orphan.

He was taken in by his paternal grandfather and his maiden aunt, Justine Bastiat.

He attended a school in Bayonne, but his aunt thought poorly of it and so enrolled him in Saint-Sever.

At 17, he left school at Sorèze to work for his uncle in his family's export business.

It was the same firm where his father had been a partner.

Economist Thomas DiLorenzo suggests that this experience was crucial to Bastiat's later work since it allowed young Frédéric to acquire first-hand knowledge of how regulation can affect markets.

Sheldon Richman notes that " he came of age during the Napoleonic wars, with their extensive government intervention in economic affairs.