That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen

<p>Frédéric Bastiat is well known for his 'broken window' parable.  While other economists were looking at how maintaining a standing army launching public works projects and even destroying things as a way to spur the economy Bastiat showed in this classic economics essay just how wrong this thinking is — or at least how it is incomplete.  'What is seen' is plain enough: the broken window.  'What is not seen' requires some imagination and curiosity but is nonetheless real: the things not purchased because the money had to be used for the window and other unintended consequences.</p><p>This is the original 1853 English translation out of the original French as found in Bastiat's "Essays on Political Economy."</p>