ABSTRACT
Economists have now been interpreting Quesnay’s Tableau Economique for two centuries. The first interpreter was Quesnay himself: hearing that Mirabeau was ‘bogged down’ in the original version of the ‘zigzag’, Quesnay sent him a long letter explaining its mechanism 314 —a letter which was soon to grow into the ‘Explanation’ 315 included in the ‘third edition’. As the ‘Little Book of Household Accounts’ 316 reached larger audiences through Mirabeau’s extended treatment in the sixth part of the Friend of mankind, 317 through the Rural Philosophy, 318 and, later, through Quesnay’s Analysis, 319 First Economic Problem, 320 and Second Economic Problem, 321 interest in this remarkable analytical device grew apace. At this stage, however, apart from the ex cathedra pronouncements of Quesnay and Mirabeau themselves, there was little in the way of interpretation of the Tableau: the Physiocratic rank-and-file, with the exception of Baudeau, tended to leave the explanation and development of the Tableau to their acknowledged masters; and their adversaries, with the exception of Forbonnais, usually contented themselves with satire and abuse.
