Page "Parable of the broken window" Paragraph 4

Austrian theorists, and Bastiat himself, apply the parable of the broken window in a different way.

Suppose it was discovered that the little boy was actually hired by the glazier, and paid a franc for every window he broke.

Suddenly the same act would be regarded as theft: the glazier was breaking windows in order to force people to hire his services.

Yet the facts observed by the onlookers remain true: the glazier benefits from the business at the expense of the baker, the tailor, and so on.