Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi

Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi, also known as Jean Charles Leonard Simonde de Sismondi, (; 9 May 1773 – 25 June 1842), whose real surname was Simonde, was a Swiss historian and political economist, who is best known for his works on French and Italian history, and his economic ideas. His ''Nouveaux principes d'économie politique, ou de la richesse dans ses rapports avec la population'' (1819) represents the first liberal critique of ''laissez-faire'' economics. He was one of the pioneering advocates of unemployment insurance, sickness benefits, a progressive tax, regulation of working hours, and a pension scheme. He was also the first to coin the term ''proletariat'' to refer to the working class created under capitalism, and his discussion of ''mieux value'' anticipates the concept of surplus value. According to Gareth Stedman Jones, "much of what Sismondi wrote became part of the standard repertoire of socialist criticism of modern industry," earning him critical commentary in the ''Communist Manifesto''. Provided by Wikipedia