Claude Frederick Bastiat

Claude Frédéric Bastiat was a prominent 19th-century French economist, legislator, and writer known for championing classical liberalism, free trade, and limited government. He developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the famous 'broken window' parable, while his influential works like 'The Law' argued that government must protect individual rights rather than enable plunder. Bastiat is widely regarded as one of the greatest theorists of liberalism and a key influence on the Austrian School of economics.