Editing Jean-Baptiste Say (section)

== Writings, teaching and entrepreneurship ==
[[File:Say - Lettres a M. Malthus, 1820 - 5496950.tif|thumb|upright|Title page of Say's ''Lettres à M. Malthus, sur différens sujets d'économie politique'', published in 1820]]
Say's first literary attempt was a pamphlet on the liberty of the press, published in 1789. He later worked under [[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] on the ''Courrier de Provence''. In 1792, he took part as a volunteer in the campaign of [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]]. In 1793, he assumed in keeping with [[French Revolution]]ary fashion the pseudonym Atticus and became secretary to [[Étienne Clavière]], the then finance minister.{{sfn|Ingram|1911|p=274}}

From 1794 to 1800, he edited a periodical, entitled ''La Decade philosophique, litteraire, et politique'', in which he expounded the doctrines of [[Adam Smith]]. He had by this time established his reputation as a publicist and when the [[French Consulate|consular government]] was established in 1799 he was selected as one of the 100 members of the [[Tribunat]], resigning the editorship of the ''Decade''. In 1800, Say published ''Olbie, ou essai sur les moyens de réformer les mœurs d'une nation''. In 1803, he published his principal work, the ''[[Say's Political Economy|Traité d'économie politique ou simple exposition de la manière dont se forment, se distribuent et se composent les richesses]]''.{{sfn|Ingram|1911|p=274}} Having proved unwilling to compromise his convictions in the interests of [[Napoleon]], Say was removed from the office of tribune in 1804. He turned to industrial activities and after having familiarised himself with the processes of cotton manufacture he established a [[Cotton mill|spinning-mill]] at [[Auchy-lès-Hesdin]] in the [[Pas de Calais]] which employed some 400–500 people, mainly women and children. He devoted his leisure time to revising his economic treatise which had been out of print for some time, but the system of state censorship in place prevented him from republishing it.

In 1814, Say availed himself (to use his own words) of the relative liberty arising from the [[War of the Sixth Coalition|entrance of the allied powers into France]] to bring out a second edition of the work dedicated to the emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]], who had professed himself his pupil. In the same year, the French government sent him to study the economic condition of the United Kingdom. The results of his observations appeared in a tract, ''De l'Angleterre et des Anglais''. A third edition of the ''Traité'' appeared in 1817.{{sfn|Ingram|1911|p=274}}

A chair of industrial economy was established for him in 1819 at the [[Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers]]. In 1825, he became a member of the improvement council of the ''École spéciale de commerce et d'industrie'', later renamed École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, now [[ESCP Business School]], one of the first [[business school]]s in the world. In 1831, he was made professor of political economy at the [[Collège de France]]. In 1828–1830, he published his ''Cours complet d'économie politique pratique''.{{sfn|Ingram|1911|p=274}}