In 1845, French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote a tongue-in-cheek ‘Petition’ to his Government, in which candlemakers asked for legal protection from a business rival. The rival was the sun, which (they said) ate into their profits by providing a steady source of free daylight, and they demanded that every opening from windows to peep-holes be blocked up by law.

The candlemakers went on to envision a France in which (though they did not explain how) even the fields, forests and mountainsides were lit only by artificial light. Step by step, they showed how both arable and animal farming would boom if the sun were shut out, benefiting not only candlemakers but the wider French economy.

116 words