Physiocracy

An eighteenth-century French economic school that treated agriculture as the source of national wealth and advocated a natural economic order with limited government intervention.

Net product: The surplus of value over production costs generated, in physiocratic theory, by agriculture. Physiocrats treated this surplus as the sole source of new national wealth.
Tableau économique: François Quesnay’s diagram of how income and products circulate among economic classes. It represents physiocratic theory as a recurring flow from agricultural production through the whole economy.
Ancien Régime: The political and social order of France before the French Revolution of 1789. Physiocracy took shape within the fiscal and social institutions of pre-revolutionary France.
Single tax: A tax system that raises public revenue through one tax rather than multiple taxes. Physiocrats proposed taxing land rent, where they believed the net product accrued.
Classical economics: An approach to political economy developed from the late eighteenth century that analyzed production, distribution, and growth. Physiocracy preceded classical economics and helped establish production as a central subject of analysis.
Natural order: An order of society and economic life understood as grounded in universal natural laws. Physiocrats argued that sound policy should conform to these laws rather than obstruct them.
François Quesnay: A French physician and economist who founded the physiocratic school and developed its central economic model. His writing and diagrams gave physiocracy its most influential account of economic circulation.
French agriculture in the eighteenth century: The farming system and rural economy of France during the eighteenth century. Agriculture’s central place in the French economy informed the school’s focus on land and farm output.
Grain trade: The exchange and movement of grain between producers, markets, and regions. Physiocrats sought freer grain commerce, arguing that restrictions distorted prices and production.
The Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith’s 1776 book analyzing the sources of national wealth and the workings of commercial society. Smith engaged with physiocracy while offering a broader account of productive activity.

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