Few French economists from the past enjoy recognition in their homeland today that matches their contributions, and Boisguilbert is no exception.

Unappreciated by the readers of his time, distanced from power circles due to his eccentric nature and overwhelming passion, Boisguilbert left little mark on the 18th century. Yet, at the beginning of the last century, there has been a slow rediscovery of his work.

However, this rediscovery shows that we are getting into a kind of dead end. Boisguilbert's true merit has been lost by presenting him as the pioneer of numerous theories and the forerunner of many thinkers. He is said to have grasped the concept of underemployment later defended by Keynes, anticipated Say's law, paved the way for Walras's general equilibrium theory, and even foreshadowed the class analysis of the Marxists. 'Who or what could Boisguilbert not be the precursor of?' one commentator ultimately asked.

(Pierre Le Pesant de) Boisguilbert was born in Rouen in 1646. Educated at Port-Royal in Paris, Boisguilbert began an unsuccessful literary career before taking on various roles, including that of Lieutenant-General of Rouen. It was during this time that he wrote several books to advocate for his ideas, among them "Détail de la France" in 1695, which he republished the following year under a much more explicit title: *France Ruined under the Reign of Louis XIV, by Whom and How, with the Means to Restore It*.

And this is the basis of Boisguilbert's books: French poverty and its causes.

This misery of the French people at the end of the 18th century, Boisguilbert describes in detail, as did Vauban. He writes:

He described uprooted vineyards, peasants who abandoned fields, and recurring famines.

Boisguilbert finds two main causes for this misfortune. For if the people live in destitution, it is because they are prevented from consuming what is necessary, and the ruin of consumption has two causes.

First, the people could no longer afford to consume basic necessities due to arbitrary taxation. The taille, a personal tax of that time, was calculated blindly for each individual, rising or falling without reason. Because of the numerous privileges, the burden fell on the poor peasants, who found themselves ruined. To correct this, Boisguilbert recommended a proportional tax on all incomes, much like Vauban's proposal.

The second reason for France's misery is that too many obstacles prevented the free trade of goods, especially agricultural ones. There were customs duties at the borders and even within the country, between different regions, which paralyzed all commerce. These restrictions prevented the establishment of an equilibrium price and limited market opportunities. As a result, peasants could not make a living from their production, because they were unable to sell profitably and suffer from unremunerative agricultural prices, a concern that remains highly relevant today and lies at the heart of Boisguilbert's theory. On the matter of trade restrictions, Boisguilbert advocated for clearing the roads, in other words, establishing free trade.

And freedom is indeed his final conclusion. "It is not a matter of acting", he says, "but simply of ceasing to act like we so violently do against nature, which always tends toward liberty and perfection". Everything will be well, he repeats tirelessly, "as long as we let nature take its course, that is, give it its freedom, and that no one interferes in this commerce except to offer protection to all and to prevent violence".

This last passage is essential. Boisguilbert was the first to clearly demand a laissez-faire economic policy, to make it his credo, and to build a real system around it. According to him, there is a natural order of things, and it should not be corrupted, not destroyed, by untimely public interventions. The State, in his view, must not act in economic matters, but rather, let things act naturally. Otherwise, it will cause misery.

Boisguilbert even criticized the "good souls", as he called them, those who meant well but did great harm. They wanted cheap bread for the people, but by forcing down prices, they ruined farmers, who couldn't survive on such margins. These farmers then abandoned their lands, plunging deeper into poverty. As we all know, 'hell is often paved with good intentions'.