author

M. (Germain) Garnier

1754–1821

A French economist, writer, and statesman of the late Enlightenment and early 19th century, he is best remembered for helping bring Adam Smith’s ideas into French intellectual life. His career moved between letters, public service, and political office during one of France’s most turbulent eras.

1 Audiobook

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

by M. (Germain) Garnier, Adam Smith

About the author

Born in Auxerre on November 8, 1754, Germain Garnier studied law in Paris and began his career as an avocat before moving into public life. French reference sources describe him as an economist, writer, and politician, a mix that fits the broad range of his work and the world he lived in.

Garnier is especially notable as a translator and interpreter of Adam Smith. Bibliothèque nationale de France records link him to French editions of Recherches sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations, showing his important role in carrying Smith’s economic thought to French readers.

His public career was equally substantial. Contemporary reference entries identify him as a senator under the Empire and later a peer of France, and he died in Paris on October 4, 1821. Even when his name is less familiar today, his work sits at an interesting crossroads of economics, politics, and translation history.