science

Pascal Salin

Pascal Salin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pascal Salin rather than just read about it. In short: Pascal Salin (born May 16, 1939) is a French economist, professor emeritus at the Université Paris-Dauphine and a specialist in public finance and monetary economics. He is a former president of the Mont Pelerin Society (1994 to 1996).

Key takeaways

Pascal Salin belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pascal Salin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pascal Salin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pascal Salin (born May 16, 1939) is a French economist, professor emeritus at the Université Paris-Dauphine and a specialist in public finance and monetary economics. He is a former president of the Mont Pelerin Society (1994 to 1996).

Biography After undergraduate studies in law at the University of Bordeaux, Salin studied economics in Paris and graduated from the Instituts d'études politiques. While graduating in sociology with a licence, he started a doctorate in economics and obtained his agrégation d'économie. At the age of 22, he lectured in economics at the universities of Paris, Poitiers, and Nantes. In 1970, he became University Professor at the Université Paris-Dauphine where he stayed until his retirement in 2009. At Dauphine he co-founded the Jean-Baptiste Say research center in economics. Salin has been a consultant for the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Harvard Institute for International Development. He is a frequent contributor to the French newspapers Le Figaro and Les Echos. He has published several articles in many other French media outlets such as Le Monde. He also publishes in the Wall Street Journal Europe. Mathieu Laine and Jörg Guido Hülsmann co-edited a festschrift in honor of Salin in 2006. He was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, as well as Officier des Palmes Académiques. He was awarded the Prix renaissance de l'économie in 1986.

Work

In the 1960s and 1970s, Salin was influenced by Milton Friedman and monetarism, Jacques Rueff and his view of the international monetary order, as well as Harry Gordon Johnson and his monetary approach to the balance of payments. Robert Mundell's work also played a part in Salin's own approach to economics, especially regarding the topics of supply-side economics and optimum currency areas. Salin aided in awarding Mundell the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Université de Paris-Dauphine in 1992. Salin and his colleague, Emil-Maria Claassen, contributed to the European research on these subjects throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Salin later became interested in the Austrian school of economics. In addition to Friedrich Hayek, who was one of Salin's intellectual mentors, Salin has been influenced by the works of Frédéric Bastiat, Israel Kirzner, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Jean-Baptiste Say. Salin opposes full-reserve banking and supports unregulated free banking and fractional reserves. He rejects the theory of John Maynard Keynes and sees it as an aberration in the evolution of economic ideas.

Selected bibliography Salin publishes primarily in French and has mostly published works in monetary theory and policy. In the 1970s and 1980s, he authored many articles on the European monetary system. In recent years, he has published books defending the system of free enterprise and the philosophy of classical liberalism in France. Among his works of note are:

Revenir au capitalisme : Pour éviter les crises, Odile Jacob, (2010) Français, n'ayez pas peur du libéralisme, Odile Jacob, (2007) L'arbitraire fiscal ou comment sortir de la crise (1996) La concurrence (1995) Libre-échange et protectionnisme (1991) Macroéconomie (1991) La vérité sur la monnaie (1990) L'ordre monétaire mondial (1982) L'unité monétaire au profit de qui? (1980) Recent Issues in International Monetary Economics, New York: North-Holland (1976) with Emil-Maria Claassen, eds. Stabilization Policies in Interdependent Economies, Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co. (1972) with Emil-Maria Claassen.

Notes

External links (in French) Pascal Salin's articles published by Le Québécois Libre (in English) Pascal Salin's portrait by the Mises Institute (in English) "Are inheritance taxes fair?" Debate between Salin & Patrick Savidan

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pascal Salin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pascal Salin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pascal Salin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pascal Salin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pascal Salin

In research: Pascal Salin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pascal Salin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pascal Salin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 births, Austrian School economists, French classical liberal economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pascal Salin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pascal Salin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pascal Salin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pascal Salin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pascal Salin in simple terms?

Why does Pascal Salin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pascal Salin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pascal Salin.