Bastiat’s Parable of the Broken Window

The parable of the broken window was introduced by French economist Frederic Bastiat in his 1850 essay “Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas” (“That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See”) to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society. This … Continue reading Bastiat’s Parable of the Broken Window