ABSTRACT

This chapter explores how the language of speculation was applied to the discourse of reforming and liberalizing the French grain trade in the 1760s. In the center of the chapter are the works by the inspector general of manufactures and commerce, and secretary of commerce Louis-Paul Abeille and his engagement (and later alienation) with the physiocratic movement. The chapter sheds light on the question of how to reconcile risk-taking, profit-making and the virtues of a good merchant in a free market, and shows how "speculative knowledge" was seen as the necessary tool for a trader to succeed in a free grain market, and the same time to contribute to the public good by distributing agricultural goods.