Frédéric Passy Biography

Frederic Passy was an economist and a peace activist who received the first Nobel Peace Prize along with Henri Durant, the founder of the Red Cross. Passy mooted the idea that nations would stop fighting if they engaged in free trade. He came from a family of civil servants who had been members of various governments in France. He was inspired by the work of his elders and also joined politics in order to promote his own ideas about peace and harmony through free trade. He was a devout follower of the greatest economists of those times such as Richard Cobden and believed that when nations became partners in some joint enterprise, there would be less chance of a fight cropping up between them. Being partners, the countries would settle their disputes amicably over the negotiating table without taking up arms against each other. He toured the whole of France, lecturing in various cities and universities and wrote and spoke profusely on the subject.