Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
| Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi | |
|---|---|
Jean Charles de Sismondi
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| Born |
Jean Charles Léonard Simonde 19 May 1773 Geneva, Republic of Geneva |
| Died | 25 June 1842 (aged 69) Chêne-Bougeries, Canton of Geneva, Swiss Confederation |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| School or tradition |
Classical economics |
| Influences | Adam Smith |
| Influenced | Thomas Robert Malthus, Charles Dunoyer, Karl Marx |
| Contributions | Theory of periodic crises |
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi (a.k.a. Jean Charles Leonard Simonde de Sismondi) (French: [sismɔ̃di]; May 19, 1773 in Geneva – June 25, 1842 in Chêne-Bougeries, Canton of Geneva), whose real name was Simonde, was a historian and political economist, who is best known for his works on French and Italian history, and his economic ideas.
His father and all his ancestors seem to have borne the name Simonde, at least from the time when they migrated from Dauphiné to Switzerland at the revocation of the edict of Nantes. It was not till after Sismondi had become an author that, observing the identity of his family arms with those of the once flourishing Pisan house of the Sismondi and finding that some members of that house had migrated to France, he assumed the connection without further proof and called himself Sismondi.
The Simondes, however, were themselves citizens of Geneva of the upper class, and possessed both rank and property, though the father was also a village pastor. His uncle by marriage was the prominent pastor Jacob Vernes, a friend of Voltaire and Rousseau.
The future historian was well educated, but his family wished him to devote himself to commerce rather than literature, and he became a banker's clerk in Lyon. Then the Revolution broke out, and as it affected Geneva, the Simonde family took refuge in England where they stayed for eighteen months (1793–1794). Disliking—it is said—the climate, they returned to Geneva, but found the state of affairs still unfavourable; there is even a legend that the head of the family was reduced to sell milk himself in the town. The greater part of the family property was sold, and with the proceeds they emigrated to Italy, bought a small farm in Pescia near Lucca and Pistoia, and set to work to cultivate it themselves.
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