The Economic Turn: Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe

The mid-eighteenth century witnessed what might be dubbed an economic turn that resolutely changed the trajectory of world history. The discipline of economics itself emerged amidst this turn, and it is frequently traced back to the work of François Quesnay and his school of Physiocracy. Though lionized by the subsequent historiography of economics, the theoretical postulates and policy consequences of Physiocracy were disastrous at the time, resulting in a veritable subsistence trauma in France. This galvanized relentless and diverse critiques of the doctrine not only in France but also throughout the European world that have, hitherto, been largely neglected by scholars. Though Physiocracy was an integral part of the economic turn, it was rapidly overcome, both theoretically and practically, with durable and important consequences for the history of political economy. The Economic Turn brings together some of the leading historians of that moment to fundamentally recast our understanding of the origins and diverse natures of political economy in the Enlightenment.

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Contents
pp v-vi
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Acknowledgments
pp vii-vii
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Notes on Contributors
pp viii-xii
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter One - The Economic Turn in Enlightenment Europe
pp 1-34
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University., Sophus A. Reinert, Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Two - The Physiocratic Movement: A Revision
pp 35-70
- By Loïc Charles, professor of economics at the University Paris, Christine Théré, senior researcher at the Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques in Paris and received her PhD from the University of Paris I—Panthéon-Sorbonne.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Three - The Political Economy of Colonization: From Composite Monarchy to Nation
pp 71-88
- By Paul Cheney, professor of European history and the College at the University of Chicago
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Four - Against the Chinese Model: The Debate on Cultural Facts and Physiocratic Epistemology
pp 89-116
- By Stefan Gaarsmand Jacobsen, assistant professor of history at Roskilde University
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Five - “Le superflu, chose très nécessaire”: Physiocracy and Its Discontents in the Eighteenth-Century Luxury Debate
pp 117-138
- By Michael Kwass, professor of history and department chair at Johns Hopkins University.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Six - François Véron de Forbonnais and the Invention of Antiphysiocracy
pp 139-168
- By Loïc Charles, professor of economics at the University Paris, Arnaud Orain, professor of economics at the European Studies Institute of the University Paris 8—Vincennes.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Seven - Between Mercantilism and Physiocracy: Forbonnais's ‘Est modus in Rebus’ Vision
pp 169-192
- By Antonella Alimento, associate professor of modern history at the University of Pisa.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Eight - Physiocrat Arithmetic versus Ratios: The Analytical Economics of Jean-Joseph-Louis Graslin
pp 193-220
- By Arnaud Orain, professor of economics at the European Studies Institute of the University Paris 8—Vincennes.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Nine - Galiani: Grain and Governance
pp 221-304
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Ten - “Live and Die Proprietors and Free”: Morellet Dismantles the Dialogues and Defends the Radical Liberal Break
pp 305-350
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Eleven - “Is the Feeling of Humanity not More Sacred than The Right of Property?”: Diderot's Antiphysiocracy in His Apology of Abbé Galiani
pp 351-394
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Twelve - De facto Policies and Intellectual Agendas of an Eighteenth-Century Milanese Agricultural Academy: Physiocratic Resonances in the Società patriotica
pp 395-438
- By Lavinia Maddaluno, University of Cambridge in 2017
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Thirteen - Sensationism, Modern Natural Law and the “Science of Commerce” at the Heart of the Controversy between Mably and the Physiocrats
pp 439-468
- By Julie Ferrand, associate professor at the University Jean Monnet, Arnaud Orain, professor of economics at the European Studies Institute of the University Paris 8—Vincennes.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Fourteen - ‘One Must Make War on the Lunatics’: The Physiocrats’ Attacks on Linguet, the Iconoclast (1767–1775)
pp 469-504
- By Arnaud Orain, professor of economics at the European Studies Institute of the University Paris 8—Vincennes.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Fifteen - The Grain Question as the Social Question: Necker's Antiphysiocracy
pp 505-584
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Sixteen - Physiocracy in Sweden: A Note on the Problem of Inventing Tradition
pp 585-606
- By Lars Magnusson, professor of economic history and dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Uppsala.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Seventeen - Spain and the Economic Work of Jacques Accarias de Serionne
pp 607-634
- By Jesús Astigarraga, professor of political economy at the University of Zaragoza.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Eighteen - Captured by the Commercial Paradigm: Physiocracy Going Dutch
pp 635-656
- By Ida Nijenhuis, senior researcher at the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands and professor in source-criticism at Radboud University Nijmegen.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Nineteen - Cameralism, Physiocracy and Antiphysiocracy in the Germanies
pp 657-676
- By Andre Wakefield, professor of history at Pitzer College and received his PhD from the University of Chicago.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Twenty - No Way Back to Quesnay: Say's Opposition to Physiocracy
pp 677-698
- By Philippe Steiner, professor of sociology at the University Paris I—Sorbonne and Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Twenty-One - “A Sublimely Stupid Idea”: Physiocracy in Italy from the Enlightenment to Fascism
pp 699-734
- By Sophus A. Reinert, Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Chapter Twenty-Two - Epilogue: Political Economy and the Social
pp 735-748
- By Steven L. Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor of European History Emeritus at Cornell University., Sophus A. Reinert, Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Index
pp 749-780
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

The Economic Turn

Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe

Book description

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

Acknowledgments
pp vii-vii

Notes on Contributors
pp viii-xii

Chapter One - The Economic Turn in Enlightenment Europe
pp 1-34

Chapter Two - The Physiocratic Movement: A Revision
pp 35-70

Chapter Three - The Political Economy of Colonization: From Composite Monarchy to Nation
pp 71-88

Chapter Four - Against the Chinese Model: The Debate on Cultural Facts and Physiocratic Epistemology
pp 89-116

Chapter Five - “Le superflu, chose très nécessaire”: Physiocracy and Its Discontents in the Eighteenth-Century Luxury Debate
pp 117-138

Chapter Six - François Véron de Forbonnais and the Invention of Antiphysiocracy
pp 139-168

Chapter Seven - Between Mercantilism and Physiocracy: Forbonnais's ‘Est modus in Rebus’ Vision
pp 169-192

Chapter Eight - Physiocrat Arithmetic versus Ratios: The Analytical Economics of Jean-Joseph-Louis Graslin
pp 193-220

Chapter Nine - Galiani: Grain and Governance
pp 221-304

Chapter Ten - “Live and Die Proprietors and Free”: Morellet Dismantles the Dialogues and Defends the Radical Liberal Break
pp 305-350

Chapter Eleven - “Is the Feeling of Humanity not More Sacred than The Right of Property?”: Diderot's Antiphysiocracy in His Apology of Abbé Galiani
pp 351-394

Chapter Twelve - De facto Policies and Intellectual Agendas of an Eighteenth-Century Milanese Agricultural Academy: Physiocratic Resonances in the Società patriotica
pp 395-438

Chapter Thirteen - Sensationism, Modern Natural Law and the “Science of Commerce” at the Heart of the Controversy between Mably and the Physiocrats
pp 439-468

Chapter Fourteen - ‘One Must Make War on the Lunatics’: The Physiocrats’ Attacks on Linguet, the Iconoclast (1767–1775)
pp 469-504

Chapter Fifteen - The Grain Question as the Social Question: Necker's Antiphysiocracy
pp 505-584

Chapter Sixteen - Physiocracy in Sweden: A Note on the Problem of Inventing Tradition
pp 585-606

Chapter Seventeen - Spain and the Economic Work of Jacques Accarias de Serionne
pp 607-634

Chapter Eighteen - Captured by the Commercial Paradigm: Physiocracy Going Dutch
pp 635-656

Chapter Nineteen - Cameralism, Physiocracy and Antiphysiocracy in the Germanies
pp 657-676

Chapter Twenty - No Way Back to Quesnay: Say's Opposition to Physiocracy
pp 677-698

Chapter Twenty-One - “A Sublimely Stupid Idea”: Physiocracy in Italy from the Enlightenment to Fascism
pp 699-734

Chapter Twenty-Two - Epilogue: Political Economy and the Social
pp 735-748

Index
pp 749-780

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

The Economic Turn

Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe

Book description

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information