Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
French economist and statesman (Baron de l'Aulne), a leading Enlightenment reformer and early advocate of laissez-faire. As Controller-General of Finances under Louis XVI (1774–1776), he attempted fiscal and administrative reforms, including free trade in grain, abolishing the corvee, and suppressing guilds. He authored 'Reflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses' (1766).
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Reflections On The Formation And Distribution Of Riches
A concise exploration of how wealth is created and circulated in society, arguing that net surplus originates in agriculture and spreads through exchange, savings, and capital advances; it maps the roles of laborers, entrepreneurs, and landowners in generating wages, profits, rents, and interest, distinguishes productive from nonproductive sectors, and explains how money and prices coordinate activity. It defends free trade, secure property, and minimal regulation, critiques mercantilist restraints, and recommends concentrating taxes on land while showing how accumulation, specialization, and competition shape the distribution of income.
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