The author was one of the founders of the classical liberal republican group known as the Ideologues, which included Benjamin Constant, Jean-Baptiste Say, Marquis de Condorcet, and Madame de Stael. This book provides one of the statements of the economic principles of the Ideologues.

A Treatise on political economy appears as the fourth part of the Elemens d'ideologie, entitled Traite de la volonte et de ses effets.