In the article Tableau Economique, Francois Quensay argues that real growth comes from the agricultural sector rather than the industrial and the manufacturing sectors. In an attempt to understand the causal factors of growth in an economy, Quensay defines three classes of people that include the productive class (farmers), sterile class (artisans & manufacturers) and the proprietors (the state). Quensay believes that only the agricultural sector is capable of producing a surplus that could be used to produce much more in the coming year and hence help in the spurring economic growth. The manufacturing industry, on the other hand, is incapable of producing a surplus since it consumes everything they produce and moneys earned go back to the same process. The consumption of everything by the manufacturers produces no surplus to promote economic growth. Quensay notes that the productive expenditures are employed in agriculture, forests, pastures, mining and fishing among others which perpetuate growth in the form of grains, cattle, clothing and raw materials for the handicraft industry. On the other hand, the sterile expenses are made from the handicrafts, real estate, clothing and interest on money among others. In short, Quensay held the view that the agricultural sector was the most productive for economic growth while the industrial and manufacturing sectors were sterile.
Quesnay argues that trade and industry were not the sources of wealth, but the real wealth lay in agricultural production. He argued that the surplus from the agricultural sector that flows into the economy year after year, in the form of rent, wages and the other purchases were the real factors for economic growth. In his economic table, Quensay notes that the farmers have 2 milliards of revenue in the form of livres. The proprietors also have 2 milliards from the farmers and the artisans/manufacturers. The artisans, on the other hand, have only one. The proprietors spend half of the revenues earned from the cultivators and manufacturers on agricultural products and the other half on manufactures products. The manufacturers spend their single milliard, plus the one they receive from the proprietors on agricultural products. The revenue they earn from the farmers/cultivators restores them to their original position and repeats the whole process. Conversely, the farmers spend their initial milliard on manufactured products so as to aid them in agricultural products. The farmers/cultivators receive three milliards from the purchasers of the agricultural products. As a result, the farmers have five milliards in total and only have to use four of them. This means that they have an extra one that they can carry over to the next year. Consequently, the cultivators are the only classes of people in the economy that have a surplus that can be used in future production and hence promoting economic growth at the moment and future. The total output from the agricultural sector is more than that of the other sectors therefore proving to be the most productive sector of the economy.
Quensay notes that the circulation of revenue between these classes restores them to their original positions. By circulation he means the purchases at first hand, which are paid out using the revenues that have been distributed among all the classes of men. Towards the end of the article, Quensay discusses how cultivation could be used to alleviate poverty if it is done in the correct way. This cultivation, as he noted, needed to be large scale cultivation that would provide employment for many and would ensure the steady supply of products to the economy. He further noted that the small-scale (ungrateful) cultivation that was being practiced by many nations, including France, revealed poverty and unemployment, and was the main reason as to why the those countries were in ruins. Quensay towards the end of the article identifies the eight principal causes of a nation’s lack of productive advances. In retrospect, Quensay’s economic table did not factor in the advances in the industrial sector that was mainly responsible for the growth of many economies in the years that followed.
References
Quesnay, François. "Tableau Economique." N.p., 1759. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/quesnay/1759/tableau.htm
