----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- I think that the term comes from 18th century French economists (maybe physiocrats as Quesnay) who thought that a good solution for the problems of the French agriculture would be in a form of (at least internal) free trade. The complete expression was "laisser (or the imperative form: laissez!) faire, laisser passer", in other words "laisser faire" the active classes (bourgeoisie) and "laisser passer" the goods (without trade barriers). The expression "laissez faire, laissez passer" may result in a set of policy proposals (abolishing internal and external trade barriers, abolishing all the obstacles resulting from the medieval "produktionverhältnisse" to quote this Marxian term) that a French- speaker could call "le laisser-faire, laisser-passer". I will try to find out whether the expression actually came from the "maximes de l'ordre naturel" of Francois Quesnay. Jean Luc de Meulemeester ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]