Reflections on the Formation

by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

The works of Turgot and Quesnay stand as the first scientific expositions of political economy. Turgot's most important economic work, published nine years before the Wealth of Nations, contains a similar, though skeletal structure to Adam Smith's but goes beyond Smith in its analysis of the relation between profit and interest and its clear statement of the law of diminishing returns in agriculture. In addition, Turgot's analysis of the market mechanism, reminiscent of Bohm-Bawerk and Menger, is considered to have anticipated theoretical advancements after the marginal revolution, and his interest and capital theory to have "clearly foreshadowed much of the best thought in the last decades of the nineteenth century" (J.A. Schumpeter History of Economic Analysis). "A remarkable book ... some modern commentators have praised him as superior to [Adam Smith]." M. Blaug Great Economists Before Keynes

Genres: Economics, Politics, France, History, Philosophy, Classics

134 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1770

About the author

Louis XVI appointed French economist Anne Robert Jacques Turgot as controller general in 1774 but, after he proposed unpopular reforms with the aristocracy, dismissed him in 1776.

People today best remember this baron de Laune, a statesman, as an early advocate for liberalism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Ro...

Reviews

[Gordof Mon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para mi sorpresa fue muy digerible, yo esperaba un lenguaje más rebuscado, pero no, nada que ver, muy sencillo.

Turgot, un pre-clásico de los más influyentes, un adelantado a su época sin duda, cuando lo estaba leyendo pensé que leía a un autor de +1800 o así, bastante sorprendente.
Aquí puedes encontrarte con indicios sobre la acumulación del capital, el libre comercio, se anticipó al concepto del valor temporal del dinero, etc.
Cortito y lleno de información, este si te recomiendo que te lo leas.

- 3.875/⭐
- 3:55 ⌛

[Nicolas Beynet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Des bases sur le sujet de la Richesse des nations. La réflexion est intéressante sur les échanges de richesses. Le postulat que seule la terre crée de la richesse me paraît moins sensé.

[Griffin Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main treatise of M Turgot, early proponent of economic liberalism and a foundational thinker in study of political economy.

Here you may find the germ of many ideas later developed and critiqued by Smith, Ricardo, Marx, and countless others.