“Turgot.” Does the name sound familiar? Avenue Turgot is named after Anne Robert Jacques Turgot. He was an influential French economist and statesman. Turgot left an indelible mark on French history.
Avenue Turgot may seem like just another street. But it whispers tales of economic reform and intellectual prowess. Turgot was born in Paris in 1727. He came from an old Norman family. He is best remembered as an early advocate for economic liberalism. Some consider him a physiocrat. Turgot was the first political economist. He postulated something like the law of diminishing marginal returns in agriculture.
Turgot was initially destined for the Church. He studied at the Sorbonne. But he decided against taking holy orders in 1750. He famously said he could not bear to wear a mask all his life.
His interest in economics emerged early. Turgot wrote a letter on paper money in 1749. He refuted Abbé Jean Terrasson’s defense of John Law’s system. He also enjoyed verse-making. Voltaire praised his translation of the fourth book of the Aeneid.
Turgot’s “A Philosophical Review of the Successive Advances of the Human Mind” presented his Idea of Progress. For Turgot progress encompassed arts and sciences. It also included culture mores institutions legal codes economy and society.
In 1752 Turgot became a substitut. Later he became a conseiller in the parlement of Paris. In 1753 he became a maître des requêtes. He frequented salons and met leaders of the “physiocratic” school. These leaders included Quesnay and Vincent de Gournay. Gournay’s bye-word was “laisser faire laisser passer.” This passed into the vocabulary of economics.
In 1761 Turgot was appointed intendant of Limoges. This included some of the poorest parts of France. He applied the theories of Quesnay and Gournay. He initiated a fresh survey of the land. This was to achieve a fairer assessment of the taille.
Turgot substituted the corvée with a tax in money. This was levied on the whole province. The construction of roads was handed over to contractors. He left his province with a good system of highways.
During the famine of 1770–1771 he enforced the obligation of relieving the poor. He organized ateliers and bureaux de charité. These provided work for the able-bodied and relief for the infirm.
Turgot’s best-known work is Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth. In it he divides society into three classes. These are the productive salaried and land-owning classes. He demanded the complete freedom of commerce and industry.
In 1774 Louis XVI appointed Turgot Controller-General of Finance. Turgot’s policy was “No bankruptcy no increase of taxation no borrowing.” He enforced rigid economy. He also contemplated reform of the Ferme Générale.
Turgot prepared a regular budget. His measures reduced the deficit. He established free trade in grain. He suppressed riots. Turgot announced the abolition of privilege. He laid down the right of every man to work without restriction.
Turgot proposed a system of landed proprietors forming the electorate. Louis XVI recoiled from this. Turgot opposed financial support for the American Revolution.
Turgot’s fall came about because he did not have the support of the other ministers. On 12 May 1776 he was ordered to send in his resignation. He retired to Paris. He spent the rest of his life in scientific and literary studies.
Avenue Turgot stands as a reminder of a man of justice and truth. Turgot’s ideas influenced the French Revolution. He was a prominent economist. He championed freedom and reform. He failed in the 18th century. Yet he triumphed in the 19th.