FROM THE ACCOUNTS OF PHILOSOPHIE RURALE TO THE PHYSIOCRATIC TABLEAU: FRANÇOIS QUESNAY AS A PRECURSOR OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTING

Abstract

François Quesnay’s Tableau, as it appears in Philosophie rurale, is an understandable, robust, and innovative construction despite detail errors. It provides a precise representation of the economic circuit. We introduce the accounts of chapter VII of Philosophie rurale and we explain how Quesnay’s Tableau comes from these accounts. The transposition of the accounts of chapter VII and of the Tableau into two input-output tables shows the balance of resources and uses. In order to shed light on the progress of exchanges along the year, the Tableau is also transposed into three double-entry accountings (proprietors, farmers, and artisans).

fisiocracia, una economía fundada en la naturaleza

“…Tableau 3 économique de Quesnay 4 (Gehrke y Kurz, 1995: 54-55;Viñas, 1974: 137;Le Masne et al 2020;Sabbagh, 2015: 109;Larrère, 1992: 5;Blaug, 1985: 25). Desde la perspectiva de la economía política, la fisiocracia constituía un movimiento cuya finalidad era propiciar una serie de reformas en la Francia del antiguo régimen con el objeto de fomentar el crecimiento económico basándose en el sector agrario, a semejanza de la prosperidad lograda por este mismo sector en Gran Bretaña (Llombart, 2009: 110;Blaug, 1985: 25).…”