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Introduction

Course overview

The Origins of Laissez-Faire Economics

Course overview

  • Welcome
  • What you will learn
  • Curriculum
  • About the course author

Welcome

Welcome to HIS 204! This course, taught by Benoît Malbranque, president of the Institut Coppet and one of the foremost specialists in the French liberal tradition, explores the French origins of the concept of laissez-faire as it developed in the 18th century through a rich intellectual tradition.
Long before Adam Smith published the Wealth of Nations, French thinkers were building a political economy founded on economic freedom, mistrust of State interference, and a belief in a natural order that favors growth and prosperity. By tracing their arguments from Vauban and Boisguilbert to Turgot and Condorcet, you will uncover a forgotten intellectual heritage that shaped the modern world.

What you will learn

  • Trace the emergence of laissez-faire from its earliest precursors under Louis XIV to its full expression in the Physiocratic school.
  • Identify the key thinkers who challenged mercantilism and absolutism: Vauban, Boisguilbert, Cantillon, Quesnay, Turgot, Condillac, and others.
  • Understand the arguments against State interventionism that these economists developed, from critiques of taxation to the defense of free trade.
  • Analyze the Physiocratic system and its revolutionary claim that agriculture, not commerce, is the source of national wealth.
  • Evaluate the lasting impact of laissez-faire thought on global political economy and on the debates that continue to shape economic policy today.
  • Recognize the tension between theory and practice through the story of Turgot's reforms and their failure in pre-revolutionary France.

Curriculum

Section 2: The Forerunners. We begin at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, a time shaped by absolute monarchy and the first calls for a more rational way to govern public affairs. Through the figures of Vauban, Boisguilbert, and Cantillon, we discover early criticisms of State interventionism and the first outline of what would later become liberal political economy.
Section 3: Reformers and Thinkers of the Early 18th Century. This section focuses on those who attempted to reform the French economy in the light of new principles. Thinkers like the Abbot of Saint-Pierre, the Marquis d'Argenson, and Gournay called for dismantling corporatist obstacles, liberalizing trade, and encouraging competition as the driver of development. Their bold proposals foreshadowed the Physiocratic ideas.
Section 4: The Physiocratic School. We explore one of the most important moments in French economic thought. We examine the origins, doctrinal foundations, and main achievements of the Physiocrats, focusing on Quesnay and Dupont de Nemours. The idea of laissez-faire becomes a coherent system here, rooted in the concept of a natural order to which the State must submit.
Section 5: The Enlightenment and Political Economy. Finally, we see how liberal economic thinking spread within the broader Enlightenment movement. Voltaire, Turgot, Condillac, and Condorcet expanded the laissez-faire tradition, creating a bridge into the revolutionary period and beyond.
Ready to rediscover the French roots of economic liberalism? Let's go!

About the course author

Benoît Malbranque is the president of the Institut Coppet, an association dedicated to promoting the French school of political economy. He is the author of several books, including Vincent de Gournay: The Political Economy of Laissez-faire (2016), and he has republished the writings of French economists in the Institut Coppet's publishing collections. His deep knowledge of the primary sources makes him a unique guide through this intellectual history.