<blockquote>"
Bastiat wrote that what gave him courage was the thought that his life may not have been useless to mankind."</blockquote>
<blockquote>'The good economist, Bastiat concludes, employs counterfactual analysis, though he didn't use that term. That is, the good economist takes into account both "the effects that can be seen and those that must be foreseen." The bad economist confines himself to the visible effects only (and to working for the government).
...
Even in its unfinished state,
Economic Harmonies belies Joseph Schumpeter's comment that Bastiat "was no theorist." Bastiat was not only a great theorist, but one that the economics profession has neglected at untold expense. One can only imagine how much better the world would be now if Bastiat and his market theories, rather than Keynes and his
fascist theories, were widely esteemed.
...
A few months before he died, Bastiat wrote that what gave him courage was the thought that his life may not have been useless to mankind. Far beyond that humble hope, his works and personal courage are now playing an important role in saving mankind.
- George F. Smith,
The Long Shadow of Frédéric Bastiat, December 25, 2009</blockquote>