From the foundation of liberal political economy to its critique: theology and economics in France in the 18th and 19th centuries

The relationship between economics, religion and morals are by far more complex than usually stated. It is possible to show that, at some crucial steps of the development of economics, religious thought gave it a decisive impetus, lying thus at the heart of this development. But it is also true that religious thought developed a strong critique of these very developments. This is this double movement between religion and political economy that the example of 18th and 19th century France shows unambiguously. The very beginning of the French 18th century allows us to exemplify the first kind of relationship: it shows how, with the Jansenist P. de Boisguilbert, some fundamental propositions of liberal political economy stemmed out of religious questions and controversies. The French 19th century, by contrast, witnessed the second and inverse movement: it shows how some Protestant and Catholic authors (G. de Staël, B. Constant, J.-P. A. de Villeneuve-Bargemont, Ch. de Coux, Ch. Périn, Ch. Gide), dissatisfied with the evolution of the economic situation, strongly criticized the "laissez-faire" economic theories of the time and tried to change them.