Quesnay, François

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Quesnay, François (1694-1774). French doctor and economist. Protected by Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV, he was the leading spirit of the Physiocrats, expounding the theories of the movement in the influential Encyclopédie articles ‘Grains’, ‘Fermiers’, and ‘Évidence’, in his Tableau économique (1758), and in other writings published by Dupont de Nemours in Physiocratie (1768). He is credited with the famous free-trade motto: ‘Laissez faire, laissez passer.’

[Peter France]

Quesnay, François (fräNswä' kĕnā') , 1694–1774, French economist, founder of the physiocratic school. A physician to Louis XV, he did not begin his economic studies until 1756, when he wrote the articles “Fermiers” [farmers] and “Grains” for the Encyclopédie. His chief work was the Tableau économique [economic table] (1758), said to have been printed by the king's own hands. Quesnay and his followers believed that the Tableau summed up the natural law of economy. Quesnay and the other physiocrats greatly influenced the thought of Adam Smith. Quesnay's works have been collected in Œuvres économiques et philosophiques (with biographical studies and introduction, 1888).

1694–1774.

French physician and pioneer political economist who emphasized the primary economic importance of land and agriculture.