The received idea is that he could not miss the science of modernity. But if we investigate what can be considered as the economic thought of Rousseau, we must be distinguish two different lines of thought: one which has to do with the division of labour (to be mostly found in Emile and the...

Montesquieu relates poverty not to a lack of patrimony but to the impossibility of working. He thus fully contributes to the modern, economic secular vision of poverty: poverty is not a matter of charity but of organizing labour. Montesquieu shares the liberal, optimistic creed that the...