Quesnay

Quesnay, François (1694-1774) was a French economist and physician whose theories significantly influenced economic thought. He is most famous for developing the Tableau Économique, a complex diagram illustrating the circulation of wealth in a society. Quesnay was a leading figure in the Physiocratic school of economics, which emphasized the importance of agriculture as the sole source of true wealth.

Born in Mézerolles, France, Quesnay initially pursued a career in medicine, eventually becoming physician to King Louis XV. His interest in economics emerged later in life. He believed that a nation's prosperity depended on the productivity of its land and that the government should implement policies that favored farmers and landowners. The Physiocrats advocated for a single tax on land rent and free trade, opposing mercantilist policies that restricted commerce.

The Tableau Économique, published in 1758, was a groundbreaking attempt to analyze the economy as an interconnected system. It divided society into three classes: landowners, farmers (the productive class), and the sterile class (artisans and merchants). Quesnay's work, though eventually superseded by later economic theories, laid important groundwork for understanding economic interdependence and the concept of national income. His ideas had a lasting impact on thinkers like Adam Smith and contributed to the development of classical economics.