Physiocrats

Physiocrats, school of French 18th-century economists, the first to broadly apply the scientific method to economics. The physiocrats were led by François Quesnay, whose Tableau Économique (Economic Table, 1758), was the basis of their doctrine; other prominent physiocrats included Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and Victor Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau. The physiocrats opposed the prevailing doctrine of mercantilism, which sought to accumulate precious metals for the enrichment of the state, partly by trade regulations to avoid outflows of gold and silver. Believers in natural law, they held that laissez-faire economics would naturally produce the most prosperous and virtuous society, and that free trade should therefore be allowed. They also maintained that only agriculture could produce wealth, while commerce and industry only circulated it, and disdained mercantilist emphasis on international trade.

The physiocrats enjoyed considerable influence during the 1760s, and their ideas on the free market economy inspired Adam Smith. However, their views on agriculture was rejected by him and his follower David Ricardo, who between them originated the opposing labour theory of value. They also believed that a natural just price existed which would prevail in a free market, and that landlords rather than peasants should receive profits from land. They are thus regarded as systematizers of medieval moralistic economic ideas rather than the founders of modern economics.

The physiocrats enjoyed their nearest approach to power when Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, a close ally, was appointed comptroller general of France in 1774. His interest in economic theory presented a tempting target for his political enemies, and when he was dismissed in 1776 the surviving physiocrats were exiled. However, some of the policies associated with the French Revolution, such as the freeing of the grain trade (1789) and a land tax (1790) were shaped by their views.