Charles Richard De Butré: An Economist in the Shadow of François Quesnay

Abstract

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.

BON PRIX, PROFIT, AND CAPITAL ACCUMULATION IN QUESNAY

“…32 It should be emphasized that the dichotomy petite vs grande culture is a simplification and is regarded as such by Quesnay. This can be inferred also by the works of Butré (see Théré 2016a and2016b) and of Turgot (see groenewegen 1983, p. 33). 33 Actually, Pressman talks of "two possible interpretations of profit" due to a price increase: the first is that it increases in real terms; the second, that it increases only nominally.…”

Charles Richard De Butré: Pioneer of Mathematical Economics

“…5), and Steenge and Van Den Berg ( 2007 ). 3 We have explained the main results of our research on this little-known Physiocrat in an earlier issue of the same journal (see Charles and Théré 2016 ). 4 On the growing amount of mathematical teaching in eighteenth-century France, see Taton ( 1964 ) and Lynn ( 2006 ).…”

“…527-541 and 597-618); an English translation of these two articles is available in Meek ([1962Meek ([ ] 1993. We provide a larger discussion on this point in Charles and Théré ( 2016 ). 6 In addition to Quesnay, Condillac, who was by far the most famous French philosopher of the time, was a staunch supporter of using the analytical method of the mathematicians in philosophy and economics.…”

“…20-23) for a discussion of these two uses of "analysis" in eighteenth-century France. 7 For his college studies, see Charles and Théré ( 2016 ). 8 Alternatively, Butré may have attended mathematical courses or lessons in Paris in the 1750s or early 1760s, but there is no record of it and it is most likely that he did not.…”

“…Butré wrote each chapter in a different notebook ( cahier ), which he numbered accordingly. For a detailed description of the manuscript, seeCharles and Théré ( 2016 ).17 Its awkward wording is also typical of the style of Butré, who is often clumsy and even obscure. The reader may refer to the Appendix, where we present the whole problem in English translation.…”