From 1759 to 1762, François Quesnay regularly appealed to Charles Richard de Butré (1725–1805) when he had to make numerical estimates or perform non-elementary computations (Charles and Théré 2008). Although scarcely mentioned in the secondary literature, Butré was indeed an important collaborator of Quesnay’s. The present article gives a detailed account of Butré’s contribution to Physiocracy by concentrating on the period from 1766 to 1768, when Quesnay conceived and published his last versions of theTableau économique. We show that Butré developed a sophisticated economic model. Although his model contains significant deviations from Quesnay’s, Butré’s intent was to complement rather than criticize it.
Historians of economics have acknowledged the significant role François Quesnay and the Physiocrats played in the early development of mathematical economics. It is, however, important to note that although the Tableau économique could well be translated into algebra, Quesnay never did it. As part of our research on Charles Richard de Butré, an obscure collaborator of François Quesnay, we have uncovered documents that show that he was one Physiocrat who did use algebra to explain his theoretical conceptions. In two texts written at the end of 1766 and the beginning of 1767, Butré systematically used algebra as an aid for economic reasoning. Our argument is that these texts provide very interesting insights into the development of early mathematical economics.
Revue de l'OFCE OFCE L'Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques est un organisme indépendant de prévision, de recherche et d'évaluation des politiques publiques. Créé par une convention passée entre l'État et la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques approuvée par le décret n° 81.175 du 11 février 1981, l'OFCE regroupe plus de 40 chercheurs (es) français et étrangers. « Mettre au service du débat public en économie les fruits de la rigueur scientifique et de l'indépendance universitaire », telle est la mission que l'OFCE remplit en conduisant des travaux théoriques et empiriques, en participant aux réseaux scientifiques internationaux, en assurant une présence régulière dans les médias et en coopérant étroitement avec les pouvoirs publics français et européens. Philippe Weil a présidé l'OFCE de 2011 à 2013, à la suite de Jean-Paul Fitoussi, qui a succédé en 1989 au fondateur de l'OFCE, Jean-Marcel Jeanneney. Depuis 2014, Xavier Ragot préside l'OFCE. Il est assisté d'un conseil scientifique qui délibère sur l'orientation de ses travaux et l'utilisation des moyens.
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