The Grand Tableau of François Quesnay's economics

Quesnay scholarship has neglected the 40 tableaux that he and Mirabeau published in 1763 in Philosophie rurale, which they originally entited Grand tableau ecccconomique. This 1,400-page book, described by Louis Salleron as the most complete and authentic expositionof the physiocraticc system considered as a whole, contains detailed sequences of tableaux that describe and economy is disquilibrium, of which three are outlined and explained. The first shows what occurs when agricultyral advances yield more than the 100 per cent asssumed in the equilibrium tableaux, as in England where they yielded up to 150 per cent, and in Spain and France where they yielded to more than 25 to 50 per cent. The second explains how French agriculture could be restored and agricultural advances vastly increrased in nine years. The third explains the adverse effects on growth of an increase in luxe de decoration. It is argued that Philisopie ruraleprovides a more detailed account of Quesnay and Mirabea's policy analysis than the essays in Du Pont' Physiocratie, on which Quenay scholarship has predominantly focused.