Quesnay And The Analysis Of Surplus In The Capitalist Agriculture

Abstract

In order to discuss the ‘rational foundation’ of certain aspects of Quesnay's theory we use a simple formalization of the necessary connections between assumptions about the techniques in use, the distribution of income between the classes and sectors and the system of relative prices. We argue that in Quesnay's system agriculture was truly capitalist and that he was indeed a pioneer of the classical political economy/surplus approach to economics as identified first by Karl Marx, Piero Sraffa and Pierangelo Garegnani, the physical surplus of grains being the necessary basis for his analysis of the distribution and relative prices.