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Turgor, Anne Robert Jacques, Baron de LAulne (1727-1781)

Biographical Information:

- Economist, philosopher and administrator.

- Born in Paris, France- Studied at the Collges Duplessis and Bourgogne where he studied the

philosophical systems of Newton and Locke. In October 1746 he entered the

Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in preparation for the priesthood.

- From June 1749 to early 1751 he was resident student at the Maison de Sorbonne,and annex of the Theological Faculty of the University of Paris. His already

considerable academic distinction leads to his election to the office of prior in

1750. This honorary position inspired two of his earliest works, of which thesecond,Philosophical Review of the Successive Advances of the Human Mind

contained a demonstration of the importance of economic surplus for the

development of civilization as part of his four stages theory of human progress.- His fathers death in early 1751. His inheritance provided sufficient income to

commence the administrative career he desired. He gained appointment to some

judicial positions, including that of Master of Requests in early 1753, thestepping-stone to a career as provincial intendant.

- He died in Paris in March 1781 from gout.

Major Works:

Lettre M. l'abb de Cic, depuis vque d'Auxerre, sur le papier supple la

monnaie, 1749 (copy)

Les avantages que la religion chrtienne a procurs au genre humain,Discours

prononc en latin, dans les coles de la Sorbonne, 1750. Tableau philosophique des progrs successifs de l'sprit humain,Discours

prononc en latin, dans les coles de la Sorbonne, 1750.

Plan de deux discours sur l'histoire universelle, 1751.

Plan d'un ouvrage sur la geographie politique, 1751.

Fragmens et pensees detachees pour servir a l'ouvrage sur la geographie

politique, 1751.

Lettres sur la tolrance, 1753-4

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http://www.taieb.net/auteurs/Turgot/cice.htmlhttp://www.taieb.net/auteurs/Turgot/cice.htmlhttp://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/cice.htmhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/discours.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/plangeo.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/fragmens.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/fragmens.htmlhttp://www.taieb.net/auteurs/Turgot/cice.htmlhttp://www.taieb.net/auteurs/Turgot/cice.htmlhttp://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/cice.htmhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/discours.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/plangeo.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/fragmens.htmlhttp://www.unifi.it/riviste/cromohs/bibliot/philmeth/turgot/fragmens.html

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"tymologie", "Existence", Expansibilit, "Foires et Marchs", "Fondation",

"Langues", 1757, articles inEncyclopdie ofDiderot and d'Alembert.

"loge de Vincent de Gournay", 1759,Mercure.

Le commerce des grains: Projet de lettre au contrleur gnral Bertin sur un

projet d'dit, 1763.

Rflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses, 1766 (Eng:Reflectionson the Formation and Distribution of Wealth) (copy)

Circulaire aux officiers de police des villes, 1766

Observations sur les mmoires de Graslin et Saint-Pravy, 1767.

Lettres sur les meutes populaires que cause la chert des bleds et sur les

prcautions du moment, 1768 (attrib.)

L'impt indirect: Observations sur le mmoires rcompenss par la Socit

d'Agriculture de Limoges, 1768.

Lettres Hume, 1768.

Valeurs et Monnaies: Projet d'article, 1769 - (copy),

Lettres DuPont de Nemours, 1766-70

Mmoire sur les prts d'argent, 1770. Lettres au contrleur gnral (abb Terray) sur le commerce de grains, 1770.

Extension de la libert du commerce des colonies, 1772

Lettre au contrleur gnral (abb Terray) sur la marque des fers, 1773.

Arrt du Conseil tablissant la libert du commerce des grains et des farines

l'intrieur du royaume et

la libert de l'importation, 1774

Mmoire sur les moyens de procurer, par une augmentation de travail, des

ressources au peuple Paris,

dans le cas d'une augmentation dans le prix des denres, 1er mai 1775, 1775

Des administrations provinciales : mmoire prsent au Roi, 1788

Mmoires sur le prt intrt et sur le commerce des fers, 1789 Oeuvres de Turgot. Vol. 1, Vol. 2, (ed. Dupont de Nemours), 1844

Major Ideas and Circumstances influencing works and ideas:

- During the 1750s, Turgots prolonged residence in Paris. His contributions to the

Encyclopdie spread his fame as a philosopher.

- He not only has good relations with the Physiocrats such as Quesnay and Du Pont

de Nemours, but also good relations with philosopher and mathematician,Condorcet. In addition, his relationship with Gournay provided substantial English

influence on his work, which can be seen in his critique of Laws system of papercurrency.

- In 1761, he was appointed Intendant of Limoges where he introduced some tax

reforms, changes in the way taxes were assessed and collected. These changes

alleviated some of the hardships suffered by the population of his province duringthe long and severe famine of 1769 to 1772. Many of his better known economic

writings date from this period:Reflections on the Production and Distribution of

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Wealth, a draft for a paper on value and money, observations on two winning

entries in a prize competition he had organized on the subject of taxation. The

most important of the deal with taxation in general, mines and quarries, the graintrade, the rate of interest and the trademark on iron products.

- Louis XVIs succession to the throne in 1774 marks the next stage in Turgotscareer; his membership of the Royal Council, first as Minister of the Navy, then as

Minister of Finance. Du Pont de Nemours summarized Turgots career as minister

in terms of the reforms accomplished. These included restoration of the domesticfree trade in grain, abolition of many small, local duties and other constraints on

trade, and the January 1776 measures, of which partial suppression of the guilds

and replacing the corve with a more general land tax were the more controversial

measures. These last, now generally known as the six Edicts, ultimately caused hisdownfall even though he did secure royal support for their forcible registration at

a famousLit de Justice. The reforms Turgot had accomplished were reversed

within six months from his downfall. In 1778, he was elected President of the

Acadmie des Inscriptions et des Belles letters

- He is remembered as a very important 18th-century French economist and a pre-revolutionary reformist finance minister.

- He was a superb linguist, reading seven languages. This linguistic skilldemonstrates his ability to profit from the economic writings of other countries.

He is far more correctly depicted as an author of transition between the

Physiocrats at the end of the eighteenth century and the English classical

economists at the start of the nineteenth.

- He was interested in sociology, science and the arts, and that this analytical

interest was enhanced by studying the formation of languages.

************************ I will stop here. ***************************

- The whole of theReflections is imbued with Turgots sociological concerns with

nature of progress and historical development, thereby reinforcing the need tointerpret its contents in terms of stadial development. Such a view is also

appropriate for its alleged original purpose as providing explanations to

accompany an extensive questionnaire on the Chinese economy and society.

- TheReflections analyses the basic features of the production and distribution of

wealth within an agricultural society. The society presumes a specific set of classrelations, proprietors class and working classes. For the working class, the labour

divides those cultivating the soil to produce food and raw material or products of

prime necessity from artisans who transform those primary materials into forms

more suitable for peoples use. Because artisans depend on those working in

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agriculture for their livelihood, he calls them a stipendiary class. Because they

only transform existing wealth without generating a surplus, he calls them a sterile

class to contrast their work with that in agriculture, which produces such a surplusand thereby generates new wealth. In this way, he demonstrates the

appropriateness of Physiocratic class analysis for understanding agricultural

society.

- Turgots analysis of the productive use of capital and its social implications reveal

the degree to which this economics had departed from Physiocracy andanticipated views subsequently developed by Adam Smith. First of all, Turgots

exposition extends the use of capital to all sectors of industry thereby not

confining it to agriculture as Quesnay had done. Secondly, Turgot likes Smith,

links an increasing need for capital in production with extensions of the divisionof labour and a consequent lengthening of the time period of production. Thirdly,

Turgot associates the provision of capital to industry with a new class of society,

the capitalist/entrepreneur as owners of movable wealth, who invest these

resources to reap a return.

- Economic Individualism.As for the substance of the natural order of society, the Physiocrats visualized it as

regulated by the principle of individualism. Turgot insisted that the individual is

the best judge of his own interest, and to Quesnay the secret of a well-orderedsociety was that everyone works for others in the belief that he is working for

himself.

- Diminishing Returns.Turgot was ahead of his time in many respects. He was the first to state the

principle of diminishing returns. When developing this principle, Turgot speaks of

incremental applications of the variable factor, thus anticipating the marginalprinciple as well. Successive application of the variable input will cause the

product to grow, first at an increasing rate, later at a diminishing rate, until it

reaches a maximum.

- Capital Theory.

Turgot pioneered in the development of the theory of capital, and as he did this in

his Reflections, the influence of his thought in this matter reached further.Turgot distinguishes five different employments of capital --- purchase of a

landed estate, investment in agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and lending at

interest--- each of which yields a different return. The returns are interrelated in away that will equalize the total advantage of the investor. Investment in land,

because of their safety and ease, yield the least. The yield from loan funds will be

somewhat higher because it includes a risk premium. Because of this, and alsobecause of the care and attention required of the investor, capital invested in

agriculture, manufacture, and trade will command still higher returns.

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- Interest.

Interest is payable as an opportunity cost because the lender, had he used his

funds for the purchase of land, would earn a return, an opportunity he forgoes bylending out the money an argument that goes back to Calvins justification of

interest. Turgot reinforces it with another consideration, based on the right of

property. So dear to the Physiocrats: the lender is the owner of his funds; he cando with them as he pleases and no one has the right to claim their use for nothing.

Situation in intellectual network: teachers (if any), students (if any), intellectual

adversaries (if any), acquaintance with other thinkers, works of other thinkers

that had an important influence.

Turgot influenced Smith on only a few fairly specific points and that the broad

similarities (and differences) in their economic systems are largely explained by

their common heritage of British and French predecessors. The quarrel over

Bhm-Bawerks interpretation of Turgots interest theory (involving Cassel,Wicksell and Marshall) is more instructive for the light it sheds on the participants

than for discovering Turgots views on the subject. For example, it can besuggested that Bhm-Bawerks position may have been influenced by his

considerable youthful debts toTurgots theory while Marshalls involvement may

be explained by antipathy to the Austrian economists and some strikingsimilarities between his and Turgots interest theory.

The doctrine of social progress, which played such an important part in

establishing Turgots vision, was also applied by him to his history of ideas.Turgot built on the work of Montesquieu, Hume, Cantillon, Quesnay and

Gournay, thereby becoming a major participant in constructing 18th-century

classical political economy with noteworthy contributions of his own particularlyto the theory of value, capital and interest, production and distribution.

Sources used to find the above information

- The Growth of Economic Thought. Third Edition. Henry William Spiegel.

P.184- 220. Franois Quesnay (1694-1774) is the head of the Physiocrats.

- New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics. (New York: Stockton Press 1987).P. 707-712

- http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/turgot.htm

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