Setting the stage
The classical account of this movement can still be found in Georges Weulersse’s series of books, covering the movement’s history from the first papers written by Quesnay in the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des metiers, to the first phase of the French Revolution (Weulersse 1910, 1950, 1959, 1985).
However, in this chapter, we focus on a shorter period of time: the two initial stages of the development of the school to which Loi'c Charles and Christine There have recently drawn attention (2008, 2011, 2019).During the first stage, Quesnay was the key character in the sense that he personally encouraged other people to spread his own ideas, since as a member of the royal Court in Versailles - he was the personal physician of Madame de Pompadour, the favourite of King Louis XV - he thought it much better to publish his ideas under the name of other people. Quesnay created a “writing workshop” in which he explained his economic thinking to the members of his group and carefully supervised their writings. At this time, the group was small: Victor Riqueti (1715-1789), marquis de Mirabeau, Pierre Samuel Du Pont (1739-1817) and Louis-Paul Abeille (1719-1807); together with some contributors who were relatively minor, but important with regard to specific topics, such as husbandry (Henry Pattullo, 1725-1784) or calculation (Charles de Butre, 1724-1805). Pierre- Paul Le Mercier de la Riviere (1719-1801) joined this workshop after coming back from his Intendance in the French West Indies. During this first period, intellectual activity was limited and only a few texts were produced, mainly theoretical works: besides Quesnay’s own works on the various versions of the Tableau
DOI: 10.4324/9780429202414-5 Economique (1758-60), the workshop produced Mirabeau’s books (Theorie de l’impot, 1760, and Philosophie rurale, 1763 with an important contribution by Quesnay); Du Pont’s essay on the international grain trade (De l'importation et de l'exportation des grains, 1764); and Le Mercier de la Riviere’s book (L'ordre naturel et essentiel des societes politiques, 1767).
That these works had a clearly theoretical aspect is illustrated by the role Quesnay gave to calculations, and even if Mirabeau complained that he could not understand half of them, Quesnay maintained that these were key elements of his intellectual strategy. During this period, Quesnay was seen as an “homme de lettres”, organising philosophical dinners attended by many influential men of letters and administrators - but he was unknown to a larger public.In 1764, this mode of work ended, mainly because Quesnay lost his strong connection with the King following the death of Madame de Pompadour. Visiting him in his Versailles apartment was no longer an advisable move for those looking for a position in line with their ambition. Quesnay was thus no longer able to attract new people, and the workshop was re-formed in Mirabeau’s Paris salon. The rate of book production accelerated to about a dozen texts a year (Charles and There 2008, 34). Publications were no longer submitted to Quesnay for his scrutiny, they were instead read and discussed during Mirabeau’s “mardis economiques”. It could even happen that some of these writings did not find favour with Quesnay, being designed for a larger public than the audience he intended to address - one example of this would be Mirabeau’s Leςons economiques (1770), which was published nonetheless. It was the time of the foundation of physiocracy, notably after the publication by Du Pont of a collection of essays by Quesnay under that very title (Physiocratie, 1768-69). New members were attracted, such as Nicolas Baudeau (1730-1792), J.-N.-M. Guerineau de Saint-Peravy (1732-1789) and Guillaume- Francois Le Trosne (1728-1780). It was also the time for doctrinal diffusion. Mirabeau’s salon was suited to that purpose, and so were the journals edited by some of the group’s members: Le Journal d'agriculture, du commerce et des finances, edited by Du Pont from 1765 to 1766, and Les Ephemerides du citoyen, edited by Baudeau from 1765 to 1768 and by Du Pont from 1768 to 1772.
In the following pages, we first explain the philosophical underpinnings of Quesnay’s thought and then the physiocratic conception of political economy - a part of what was then known as the “sciences morales et politiques” (moral and political sciences). We then deal with Quesnay’s first economic writings (mainly those which were published or intended to be published in the Encyclopedie), with the various versions of the “Tableau Economique” (“Economic Table”), and finally with physiocratic fiscal policy. We conclude with some aspects of the reception of the physiocratic view of political economy in the course of the nineteenth century.
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