Mary: The OED entry on coercion includes to govern by force as the second definition of the term, and cites as popular usage names like "The Coercion Act". It dates this standard association of government & force to late 18c. Under coerce, the usage is pushed back to Butler in the mid 17th century, though there it seems to be being used with a tone of approval--not as the evil constraint on liberty so much as the necessary constraint of the licentious. The OED datings are, I think, increasingly regarded as suspect (indeed, there was a good deal of controversy about the lack of revision in OED2), and so you could probably assume that the usage is even older. Somewher, EPThompson comments with cryptic humour re the OED that the first cuckoo often sang before the fact was recorded in the Times. Either way, to address your question, the usage probably predates economists. Though the shift from the (17c) right to constrain the errant to the (19c) suspect restraint of "natural" freedoms presumably accompanied the related economic debate. Of course, the term was used only to distinguish some forms/acts of governance from others, but once you believe that all government is the restraint of liberty by force, then govern and coerce become synonymous. Best wishes, Paul Paul Duguid [log in to unmask]