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Tony: Your student is probably right. Sowell, in Say's Law, uses
the quoted phase in the first sentence of his book, 'The idea that
supply creates its own demand, Say's law..." On page 12,
however, he says that this familar formulation of the law is not a
direct quotation from any of the major protagonists, not Say, not
Malthus, or Ricardo, or James Mill et al. He cites Keynes (GT, p.
18) for the phrase, but does not assert that Keynes was the first to
formulate Say's law in precisely those terms. W.H Hutt, whose
book "A Rehabilitation of Say's Law" was published 2 years later
than Sowell's in 1974, states his belief that Kneyes was the first to
use the phase (note on p.3). Moreover, "It has been repeated in
these very words by virtually all other economists who have since
referred to Say's law." He cites Schumpeter, Mark Blaug and Tom
Sowell.
So - full marks on #2. Might the OED help on #1?
Mike Lynch
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