ABSTRACT
The reaction against the doctrines and restrictive practices of mercantilism was, if anything, more violent in France than in England. The French economy was basically agrarian and prospered little from the industry-stimulating measures introduced during the reign of Louis XIV by Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-83), who served as minister of finance from 1661 until his death. Added to this, French wealth was drained by unsuccessful colonial wars and extravagant expenditures at court, both of which required high taxes to support them. The difficulty of assessing personal income and the exemption of the clergy and nobility from taxation burdened the commoner landowner and the peasant with substantially the whole revenue requirement. This situation so impoverished the rural classes that demands for reform became insistent until, at last, they culminated, in the French Revolution in 1789. But before this great explosion, the first school of economists who became known as the Physiocrats presented an eloquent plea for “revolution from above.”
