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Physiocrat
Physiocracy (; from the Greek for "government of nature") is an economic theory developed by a group of 18th-century Age of Enlightenment French economists. They believed that the wealth of nations derived solely from the value of "land agriculture" or "land development" and that agricultural products should be highly priced. Their theories originated in France and were most popular during the second half of the 18th century. Physiocracy became one of the first well-developed theories of economics. François Quesnay (1694–1774), the marquis de Mirabeau (1715–1789) and Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot (1727–1781) dominated the movement,Steiner (2003), pp. 61–62 which immediately preceded the first modern school, classical economics, which began with the publication of Adam Smith's ''The Wealth of Nations'' in 1776. The physiocrats made a significant contribution in their emphasis on productive work as the source of national wealth. This contrasted with earlier schools, in par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economic Theory
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyses what is viewed as basic elements within economies, including individual agents and markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyses economies as systems where production, distribution, consumption, savings, and investment expenditure interact; and the factors of production affecting them, such as: labour, capital, land, and enterprise, inflation, economic growth, and public policies that impact these elements. It also seeks to analyse and describe the global economy. Other broad distinctions within economics include those between positive economics, describing "what is", and normative economics, advo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne ( ; ; 10 May 172718 March 1781), commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Sometimes considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an early advocate for economic liberalism. He is thought to have been the first political economist to have postulated something like the law of diminishing marginal returns in agriculture. Education Born in Paris, Turgot was the youngest son of Michel-Étienne Turgot, "Provost (civil), provost of the merchants" of Paris, and Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Brétignolles, and came from an old Normandy, Norman family. As one of four children, he had a younger sister and two older brothers, one of whom, Étienne-François Turgot (1721–1789), was a naturalist, and served as administrator of Malta and governor of French Guiana. Anne Robert Jacques was educated for the Church, and at the Collège de Sorbonne, Sorbonne, to which he was admitted in 1749 (being then styled ''ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor De Riqueti, Marquis De Mirabeau
Victor de Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau (; 5 October 171513 July 1789) was a French economist of the Physiocratic school. He was the father of Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, Honoré, Comte de Mirabeau and André Boniface Louis Riqueti de Mirabeau. He was, in distinction, often referred to as the elder Mirabeau as he had a younger brother, :fr:Jean-Antoine Riqueti de Mirabeau, Jean-Antoine Riqueti de Mirabeau (17171794). Biography Mirabeau was born in Pertuis. He was brought up very sternly by his father, and in 1728 joined the army. He took keenly to campaigning, but never rose above the rank of Captain (land and air), captain, owing to his being unable to get leave at court to buy a regiment. In 1737 he came into the family property on his father's death, and spent some pleasant years till 1743 in literary companionship with Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues and the poet Lefranc de Pompignan, which might have continued had he not determined to marry not for mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam Smith
Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or the "father of capitalism".———— He is known for two classic works: ''The Theory of Moral Sentiments'' (1759) and ''The Wealth of Nations, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'' (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as ''The Wealth of Nations'', is regarded as his ''magnum opus'', marking the inception of modern economic scholarship as a comprehensive system and an academic discipline. Smith refuses to explain the distribution of wealth and power in terms of divine will and instead appeals to natural, political, social, economic, legal, environmental and technological factors, as well as the interactions among them. The work is notable for its contribution to economic theory, particularly in its exposition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( , from , ) is a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). As a system of thought, ''laissez-faire'' rests on the following axioms: "the individual is the basic unit in society, i.e., the standard of measurement in social calculus; the individual has a natural right to freedom; and the physical order of nature is a harmonious and self-regulating system." The original phrase was ''laissez faire, laissez passer'', with the second part meaning "let (things) pass". It is generally attributed to Vincent de Gournay. Another basic principle of ''laissez-faire'' holds that markets should naturally be competitive, a rule that the early advocates of ''laissez-faire'' always emphasized. The Physiocrats were early advocates of ''laissez-faire'' and advocated for an ''impôt unique'', a tax on land rent to replace the "monstrous and crippling net ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Economics
Classical economics, also known as the classical school of economics, or classical political economy, is a school of thought in political economy that flourished, primarily in Britain, in the late 18th and early-to-mid 19th century. It includes both the Smithian and Ricardian schools. Its main thinkers are held to be Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus, and John Stuart Mill. These economists produced a theory of market economies as largely self-regulating systems, governed by natural laws of production and exchange (famously captured by Adam Smith's metaphor of the invisible hand). Adam Smith's '' The Wealth of Nations'' in 1776 is usually considered to mark the beginning of classical economics.Smith, Adam (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations. (accessible by table of contents chapter titles) AdamSmith.org The fundamental message in Smith's book was that the wealth of any nation was determined not by the gol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agrarianism
Agrarianism is a social philosophy, social and political philosophy that advocates for rural development, a Rural area, rural agricultural lifestyle, family farming, widespread property ownership, and political decentralization. Those who adhere to agrarianism tend to value traditional forms of local community over urban modernity. Agrarian political parties sometimes aim to support the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants against the wealthy, powerful and famous in society. Philosophy Some scholars suggest that agrarianism espouses the superiority of rural society to urban society and the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values. It stresses the superiority of a simpler rural life in comparison to the complexity of urban life. For example, M. Thomas Inge defines agrarianism by the following basic tenets: * Farming is the sole occupation that offers total independence and S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wealth Of Nations
''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', usually referred to by its shortened title ''The Wealth of Nations'', is a book by the Scottish people, Scottish economist and moral philosophy, moral philosopher Adam Smith; published on 9 March 1776, it offers one of the first accounts of what builds nations' wealth. It has become a fundamental work in classical economics, and been described as "the first formulation of a comprehensive system of political economy". Reflecting upon economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Smith introduced key concepts such as the division of labour, productivity, free markets and the role prices play in resource allocation. The book fundamentally shaped the field of economics and provided a theoretical foundation for free market capitalism and economic policies that prevailed in the 19th century. A product of the Scottish Enlightenment and the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the treatise offered a critical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is a economic nationalism, nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources for unilateralism, one-sided trade. The concept aims to reduce a possible current account (balance of payments), current account deficit or reach a current account surplus, and it includes measures aimed at accumulating foreign-exchange reserves, monetary reserves by a positive balance of trade, especially of finished goods. Historically, such policies may have contributed to war and motivated colonialism, colonial expansion. Mercantilist theory varies in sophistication from one writer to another and has evolved over time. Mercantilism promotes government regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting and bolstering state power at the expense of rival national powers. High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods, were a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Occupations
The four occupations (), or "four categories of the people" (),Hansson, pp. 20-21Brook, 72. was an occupation classification used in ancient China by either Confucian or Legalist scholars as far back as the late Zhou dynasty and is considered a central part of the fengjian social structure (c. 1046–256 BC).Fairbank, 108. These were the '' shi'' (warrior nobles, and later on gentry scholars), the '' nong'' (peasant farmers), the ''gong'' (artisans and craftsmen), and the '' shang'' (merchants and traders). The four occupations were not always arranged in this order. The four categories were not socioeconomic classes; wealth and standing did not correspond to these categories, nor were they hereditary. The system did not factor in all social groups present in premodern Chinese society, and its broad categories were more an idealization than a practical reality. The commercialization of Chinese society in the Song and Ming periods further blurred the lines between these four oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Senate
The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Senate of the Roman Kingdom, to the Senate of the Roman Republic and Senate of the Roman Empire and eventually the Byzantine Senate of the Eastern Roman Empire, existing well into the post-classical era and Middle Ages. During the days of the Roman Kingdom, the Senate was generally little more than an advisory council to the king. However, as Rome was an electoral monarchy, the Senate also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive Roman magistrates who appointed the senators for life (or until expulsion by Roma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latifundia
A ''latifundium'' (Latin: ''latus'', "spacious", and ''fundus'', "farm", "estate") was originally the term used by ancient Romans for great landed estates specialising in agriculture destined for sale: grain, olive oil, or wine. They were characteristic of Magna Graecia and Sicily, Egypt, Northwest Africa and Hispania Baetica. The ''latifundia'' were the closest approximation to industrialised agriculture in antiquity, and their economics depended upon slavery. In the modern colonial period, the word was borrowed in Portuguese ''latifúndios'' and Spanish ''latifundios'' or simply ''fundos'' for similar extensive land grants, known as '' fazendas'' (in Portuguese) or ''haciendas'' (in Spanish), in their empires. Ancient Rome The basis of the ''latifundia'' notably in Magna Graecia (the south of Italy including Sicilia) and Hispania, was the ''ager publicus'' (state-owned land) that was confiscated from conquered people beginning in the 3rd century BC. As much as a third of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
