Say's law

[ seyz ]

noun

1. the principle, propounded by Jean Baptiste Say, that the supply of goods is always matched by the demand for them.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Say's law¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Postscript: Before you email me, I am aware of Say’s Law.

From MSNBC

According to Say’s law of markets, introduced in 1803 by the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say, production is the source of demand.

From Salon

Academics should begin using terms that reflect the interdependent productiveness of labor and capital, and to whom incomes should flow based on their relative contributions to production of marketable goods and services, as advocated under Say’s law of markets.

From Washington Post

Today he may be more popular for his scholarship on race and ethnicity, but he explains in his memoir that “the books that made the key differences in my career”—“Say’s Law” and “Knowledge and Decisions”—“were both books on non-racial themes.”

From Wall Street Journal

Mr. Summers, in an interview, frames it as an inversion of “Say’s Law,” the notion that supply creates its own demand: that economywide, people doing the work to create goods and services results in their having the income to then buy those goods and services.

From New York Times