----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- I would like to confirm Barkley Rosser's conjecture. The term "economist" (without "political" before it) was commonly used in France to refer to the Physiocratic clique -- notably by their opponents and with usually negative connotations (apparently, they did not use it to describe themselves). I have found several passages from Diderot in the 1760s, for instance, where the term is used in this manner. So did, of course, Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, 1776: Bk. 4, Ch.9) and David Hume (I believe in a letter to Morellet c.1769, but I haven't been able to trace it). This use seems to have persisted into the 19th Century. For instance, scanning J.B. Say's "Lettres a Malthus" (1820), the only references that I could find for the term was in connection with the Physiocrats ("Qu'est-ce qui nous distingue des economistes de l'ecole de Quesnay?", and later on "ne recommencons pas le ridicule des economistes du XVIIIe siecle, par d'indeterminables discussions sur le produit net des terres"). David Ricardo, in his Principles (1817) never uses the term himself, but cites Buchanan (Ch. 17) and Malthus (Ch. 32), both of whom use the term "economist" clearly in relation to the Physiocrats. For the most part, it seems as if the term "economist" continued to be in a negative fashion for quite a while. A prime example is Edmund Burke's well-known comment "But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists; and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever" (Reflections on Revolution in France, 1790). Thomas Carlyle uses the term "economist" -- with and without the "political" prefix -- with even greater bitterness in his recurrent jibes (e.g. "Teach a parrot the terms supply-and-demand and you've got an economist."). Thomas de Quincey refers to the "utter feebleness of the main herd of modern economists" (Confessions of English Opium Eater, 1821), and then goes on to praise Ricardo WITHOUT referring to him as an "economist". James Mill (1821) and William Nassau Senior (1830) used the term "political economist" positively, but never utter just plain "economist". So, I am not sure when it was first used without negative connotations. I suppose The Economist newspaper (founded 1843) thought well of itself, so the term must have acquired positive meaning around then (or perhaps they were trying to advertise themselves with self-deprecating cheerfulness?) In support of Barkley Rosser's other conjecture, the term "economie politique" was, in fact, first used by Antoine de Montchritien (1615). Goncalo Fonseca ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]