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Jean-Baptiste Say (January 5, 1767 - November 15,
1832) was a France|French economics|economist and
businessman.  He had liberal views and argued in
favour of competition, free trade and lifting
restraints on business.

Say is well known for Say's Law, often summarised
as "Aggregate supply creates its own aggregate
demand".  He argued that production and sale of
goods in an economy automatically produces an
income for the producers of the same value, which
would then be reinjected into the economy and
create enough demand to buy the goods.  Thus
production is determined by the supply of goods
rather than demand.  Unemployment of men, land or
other resources would not be possible unless it
were by choice, or due to some kind of restraint
on trade.

He was also among the first to argue that money
was neutral in its effect on the economy.  Money
is not desired for its own sake, but for what it
can purchase.  An increase in the amount of money
in circulation would increase the price of other
goods in terms of money (causing inflation), but
would not change the relative prices of goods or
the quantity produced.  This idea was later
developed by economists into the Quantity theory
of money.

Say's ideas helped to inspire neoclassical
economics which arose later in the 19th century.

==See also==
*Liberalism
*Contributions to liberal theory

==External links==
*http://www.benbest.com/polecon/sayslaw.html Say's
Law and Economic Growth