Pierre Le Pesant de Boisguilbert

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Boisguilbert

Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert , also Boisguillebert , (born February 17, 1646 in Rouen ; † October 10, 1714 there ) was a French economist from the time of mercantilism and critic of the mercantilist doctrine of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and is now considered a forerunner French Physiocracy and French Liberalism .

Life

Boisguilbert came from a family of the official nobility (" noblesse de robe " since 1620) and was related to the playwright Pierre Corneille . He first studied at the Jesuit College in Rouen, then attended the Petites écoles de Port-Royal of the Jansenists and finally studied for three years at the "École de Droit" (School of Law) at the University of Paris . He left this with distinction and was allowed to call himself a lawyer .

Boisguilbert worked as a writer and brought out the novella Marie-Stuart, pure d'Écosse in 1674 and translated works by Cassius Dio and Herodian . On September 26, 1677 he ordered in the church of Ste-Croix in Rouen the banns for his marriage to Suzanne Le Paige, whom he married on December 27 in the parish of Pinterville . With her he had two daughters and three sons. He was appointed Judge and Viscount of Montivilliers in 1678 . He held this office until 1689. In 1690 he acquired the title of "Président et Lieutenant général au bailliage et siège présidial de Rouen" (President and Lieutenant General of the Bailiwick and the Presidium of Rouen) and in 1699 the title of "Lieutenant general de police" (Lieutenant General of the Police). His work Le détail de la France sous le règne de Louis XIV was initially published anonymously in 1695 and published on March 14, 1707 as Factum de la france, ou Moyens tres faciles de faire recevoir au roy quatre millions par dessus la capitation by the French government banned. Boisguilbert was therefore exiled to the Auvergne for six months . In 1712 he published the political writings Testament politique de Monsieur de Vauban, marechal de France & premier ingenieur du roi (Political Testament of Mr. Vauban, Marshal of France & First Engineer of the King).

Economic activity

Boisguilbert counters Colbert's state interventionism with one of the first arguments for a free economy. He backs his argumentation with a macroeconomic justification about the creation of wealth and income. For him, economic actors know best what they have to produce, how and for whom, and do not need a state to dictate this to them. For Boisguilbert, progress arises solely on the basis of the initiative of the individuals and actors who, motivated by their own interests, will build a “natural economic order”. The role of the state should then be limited to the education of the people and the protection of the market, otherwise laisser-faire et laisser-passer is the best strategy to guarantee a strong, healthy economy.

These views represent a break with the mercantilist doctrine that had been in effect in France until then, which, according to Boisguilbert, does not promote wealth, but actually prevents or destroys it. With the help and protection of Vauban, Boisguilbert published his revolutionary ideas from 1695 to 1712.

Creation of wealth
In contrast to mercantilism, which equates wealth with the possession of gold, Boisguilbert differentiates between "real wealth" and "monetary wealth". The race for gold, which was modern at the time, seems crazy to him ( la pure folie ): According to Boisguilbert, true economic power only arises thanks to agriculture and industry, which are the only goods that produce goods that actually serve people's needs.
Social classes
Boisguilbert distinguishes between three social classes: farmers, traders and unproductive. He clearly takes sides with the first two; The latter, to which he counts landowners, noblemen and other groups of people in his opinion "useless", he criticizes for the fact that they “do nothing all day and yet enjoy all the pleasures”, while the others “work from morning to evening and hardly at all have what they need, which is often taken away from them ”(Dissertation de la nature des richesses).
Economic cycle
Like François Quesnay , Boisguilbert tries to find an explanatory model for the economy that includes the various actors and their roles in the cycle. For Boisguilbert, the origin and end point of the economic cycle is the property. Income on land (rent, tithes, property taxes) goes from the working classes to the inproductive population groups, who buy food from the peasants and products from the industrialists and traders.
  • Improductive: Receive their income from their property.
  • Farmers: Get their income from the sale of goods. The agricultural variations in agricultural production have an impact on the entire economic system. Boisguilbert also includes industry in this sector.
  • Merchant: Your job is to circulate the riches. They receive their income from the sale of products that they have previously bought from industrialists and agriculture.

Fonts (selection)

  • Marie-Stuart, pure d'Écosse. Nouvelle historique. (3 volumes). Claude Barbin, Paris 1674/1675, OCLC 470572082 .
    • German edition: The story of the life and government of Mariae, Queen of Scots and widows of France. from documents and credible documents. Thomas von Wierings Erben, Hamburg 1726, OCLC 26028088 .
  • Le détail de la France, sous le règne present. or Le détail de la France sous le règne de Louis XIV. 1695, OCLC 457089910 .
    • under the title: La France ruinee sous le regne de Louis XIV. A Cologne, 1696, OCLC 490533570 . archive.org .
    • under the title: Factum de la france, ou Moyens tres faciles de faire recevoir au roy quatre millions par dessus la capitation. Rouen 1707, OCLC 1746713 .
  • Dissertation de la nature des richesses, de l'argent et des tributs, où l'on découvre la fausse idée qui règne dans le monde à l'égard de ces trois articles. in: Collection des principaux économistes. (Volume 1, pp. 372-407. Circa 1841) 1704, OCLC 221066990 .
  • Traité de la nature, culture, commerce et interêt des grains, tant par rapport au public, qu'à toutes les conditions d'un état; divisé en deux partie. 1704-1707, OCLC 758322312
  • Causes de la rareté de l'argent . In: Testament politique de Monsieur de Vauban, marechal de France & premier ingenieur du roi. 1707-1712, OCLC 811527883 . Volume I  - Internet Archive , Volume II  - Internet Archive .

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Pierre Le Pesant de Boisguilbert  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, père de l'économie libérale en France. in: Alternatives economiques. No. 284, 2009, ISSN  0247-3739 , pp. 74-76. (French)
  2. ↑ a b Pierre Le Pesant: repères biographiques. on alternatives-internationales.fr, accessed on May 21, 2014. (French)
  3. ↑ Jacqueline Hecht: Boisguilbert parmi nous. Actes du colloque international de Rouen, 22-23 May 1975. Institut national d'études démographiques (France), Paris 1989, ISBN 2-7332-1015-7 , p. 525. ( online )
  4. ^ Stuart Hayashi: The Rule of Peace - The Soul of Commerce. in: The Freedom of Peaceful Action. On the Origin of Individual Rights. Lexington Books, Lanham 2014, ISBN 978-0-7391-8666-4 , pp. 145/146.
  5. ^ Gerhard Stapelfeldt: The mercantilism. The genesis of world society from the 16th to the 18th century. Ça ira, Freiburg 2001, ISBN 3-924627-73-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Boisguilbert, Pierre Le Pesant de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boisguillebert, Pierre Le Pesant de; Boisguilbert, Pierre Sebastian de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French economist from the time of mercantilism
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1646
PLACE OF BIRTH Rouen
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1714
Place of death Rouen