{{Short description|French economist (1774–1840)}} {{Infobox person | name = Louis Auguste Say | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 9 March 1774 | birth_place = Lyon, France | death_date = {{dda|1840|5|6|1774|3|9|df=y}} | death_place = Paris, France | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma mater = | employer = | occupation = Businessman, economist | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Constance Maressal | children = Gustave Say<br/>Achille Say<br/>Constant Say<br/>Louis Octave Say | parents = Jean Étienne Say<br/>Françoise Brun de Castanet | relatives = Jean-Baptiste Say <small>(brother)</small><br/>Horace Say <small>(nephew)</small><br/>François de Cossé Brissac, 11th Duke of Brissac <small>(grandson)</small><br/>Princess Marie Say <small>(granddaughter)</small><br/>Léon Say <small>(grandnephew)</small> }}
'''Louis Auguste Say''' (9 March 1774 in Lyon – 6 March 1840 in Paris) was a French businessman and economist. He founded large sugar refineries in Nantes and Paris, and the sugar company "Say", known after 1972 as Béghin-Say; as of 2002 it is a subsidiary of Tereos.
==Early life and family background== Say was born on 6 March 1774 in Lyon, France.<ref name="marcpenouil">Penouil, Marc. [https://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/reco_0035-2764_1967_num_18_1_407750 "Economistes de jadis: Louise Say"], ''Revue économique'', 1967, vol. 18, issue 1, pp. 98-122</ref><ref name="deleconomiecoloniale">Célimène, Fred and Legris, André. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n2QkA7LOJC8C&dq=%22Louis+Say%22+sucre&pg=PA57 ''De l'économie coloniale à l'économie mondialisée - Aspects multiples de la transition (XXe et XXIe siècles)''], Editions Publibook, 2011, p. 57</ref><ref name="correspondancefamiliale">[https://correspondancefamiliale.ehess.fr/index.php?2348 Say, Jean-Baptiste (1767-1832), son frère Louis, et leurs familles], EHESS</ref> His father, Jean-Etienne Say, was a Swiss-born silk trader.<ref name="evertschoolr">Schoorl, Evert. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XS2x66XO4eoC&dq=%22Louis+Say%22&pg=PA3 ''Jean-Baptiste Say: Revolutionary, Entrepreneur, Economist''], New York: Routledge, 2012, p. 3</ref> His mother was Françoise Brun de Castanet.<ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/> He had a brother, Jean-Baptiste Say, who later became a classical liberal economist.<ref name="marcpenouil"/><ref name="deleconomiecoloniale"/>
His paternal family were Protestants from Nîmes who were exiled in Geneva, Switzerland after the repeal of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.<ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/> His paternal great-grandfather, also named Louis Say, moved first to Amsterdam, where he was a member of the Walloon Church, before settling in Geneva in 1694.<ref name="evertschoolr"/> His paternal grandfather, Jean Say, became a Swiss citizen.<ref name="evertschoolr"/>
==Business career== Say began his career as a broker in Paris.<ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/> He then moved to Abbeville, where he worked in the calico-whitening industry.<ref name="marcpenouil"/><ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/>
In 1813, Say asked Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert to recommend his cousin, Armand Delessert, who was the owner of a beetroot sugar refinery in Nantes.<ref name="deleconomiecoloniale"/> Shortly after, Say moved to Nantes and took over the refinery.<ref name="marcpenouil"/><ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/> After the government changed the law on tariffs in 1814,<ref name="marcpenouil"/> Say switched to using sugarcane in 1815.<ref name="deleconomiecoloniale"/> He later let his son Horace taken over the refinery.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> The company was known as Louis Say et Cie, later known as Béghin-Say, now a subsidiary of Tereos.<ref name="lonelyplanetloire">Williams, Nicola and Booner, Virginie. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PASIo7gR7Q4C&dq=%22Louis+Say%22+sugar&pg=PA30 ''The Loire''], Lonely Planet, 2002, p. 30</ref>
In 1832, with Constant Duméril, Say also opened a beetroot sugar factory in Ivry-sur-Seine, known as the "Raffinerie de Jamaïque" (English: "refinery from Jamaica").<ref name="emergencemichael">Michael Stephen Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zs26hd5keYkC&dq=%22Louis+Say%22+sugar&pg=PA276 ''The Emergence of Modern Business Enterprise in France, 1800-1930''], Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006, p. 276</ref>
==Writings on economics== Partly in reaction to his brother, Say became an economist at the age of forty-four, after he had become wealthy.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> For historian Marc Penouil, he was an "amateur" in this field.<ref name="marcpenouil"/>
Say joined the Société Académique de Loire-Inférieure.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> He also met David Ricardo in England.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> He wrote four books about political economy between 1818 and 1836.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> He disagreed with his brother, Jean-Baptiste, about classical liberalism.<ref name="christophebormans">Bormans, Christophe. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F60c1Dvz0B4C&dq=Louis+Auguste+Say&pg=PA40 ''L'indispensable de la pensée économique''], Levallois-Perret: Studyrama, 2002, p. 40</ref> Say focused on the relationship between worth and usefulness.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> He drew distinctions between national wealth and individual wealth.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> Contrary to classical liberals, he was in favour of tariffs as a way to encourage production.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> However, he was vehemently opposed to taxes.<ref name="marcpenouil"/>
==Personal life and death== Say married Constance Maressal in 1809.<ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/> They had four sons: Gustave, Achille, Constant, and Louis Octave Say.<ref name="correspondancefamiliale"/>
Say died on 6 May 1840 in Paris.<ref name="marcpenouil"/><ref name="deleconomiecoloniale"/> He was sixty-six years old.<ref name="marcpenouil"/>
==Legacy== Say's nephew, Horace Say, became a classical liberal economist.<ref name="marcpenouil"/> His grandnephew, Léon Say, served as the French Minister of Finance from 1872 to 1873, 1875 to 1877, 1877 to 1879, and again in 1882. His granddaughter, Princess Marie Say married first Henri Amédée de Broglie, and later Luís Fernando de Orleans y Borbón.
==Works== *''Les principales causes de la richesse ou de la misère des peuples et des particuliers'' (1818). *''Considérations sur l'industrie et la législation sous le rapport de leur influence sur la richesse des États et examen critique des principaux ouvrages qui ont paru sur l'économie politique'' (1822).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1823 |title=Review of ''Considérations sur l'Industrie et la Législation sous le Rapport de leur Influence sur la Richesse des Etats, et Examen critique des Principaux Ouvrages, qui ont paru sur l'Economie Politique'' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25109219 |journal=The North American Review |volume=17 |issue=41 |pages=424–436 |jstor=25109219 |issn=0029-2397}}</ref> *''Traité élémentaire de la richesse individuelle et de la richesse publique, et éclaircissement sur les principales questions d'économie politique'' (1827). *''Étude sur la richesse des nations et réfutation des principales erreurs en économie politique'' (1836).
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Say, Louis Auguste}} Category:1774 births Category:1840 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Lyon Category:People from Abbeville Category:Businesspeople from Nantes Category:Businesspeople from Paris Category:French company founders Category:Businesspeople in the sugar industry Category:French economists Category:French Protestants Category:French people of Swiss descent