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Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert (; 17 February 164610 October 1714) was a French lawmaker and a
Jansenist Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...
, one of the inventors of the notion of an economic
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...
.


Early life

He was born at Rouen of an ancient noble family of
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, allied to that of
Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...
. He received his classical education in Rouen, and was also taught at the
Petites écoles de Port-Royal The Petites écoles de Port-Royal was the name given to a teaching system set up in 1637 by the intellectuals who gathered at Port-Royal-des-Champs in the middle of the 17th century at the height of the Jansenist controversy. They functioned from 1 ...
, entered the magistracy and became judge at
Montivilliers Montivilliers ( or ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in northern France. Geography A large light industry, light industrial and farm ...
, near
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
. In 1690 he became president of the
bailliage A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on ...
of Rouen, a post which he retained almost until his death, leaving it to his son.


Taxation proposals

In his two leadership positions he made a close study of local economic conditions, personally, supervising the cultivation of his lands, and entering into relations with the principal merchants of Rouen. He was thus led to consider the misery of the people under the burden of
taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...
. In 1695 he published his principal work, ''Le détail de la France; la cause de la diminution de ses biens et la facilité du remède''. In it he drew a picture of the general ruin of all classes of Frenchmen, caused by the bad economic regime. In opposition to Colbert's
mercantilist Mercantilism is an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. It promotes imperialism, colonialism, tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal. The policy aims to reduce ...
views he held that the wealth of a country consists, not in the abundance of money which it possesses but in what it produces and exchanges. The remedy for the evils of the time was not so much the reduction as the equalization of the imposts, which would allow the poor to consume more, raise the production and add to the general wealth. He demanded the reform of the ''
taille The ''taille'' () was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in ''Ancien Régime'' France. The tax was imposed on each household and was based on how much land it held, and was directly paid to the state. History Originally o ...
'', the suppression of internal
customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
duties and greater freedom of trade. In his ''Factum de la France'', published in 1705 or 1706, he gave a more concise résumé of his ideas. But his proposal to substitute for all aides and customs duties a single capitation tax of a tenth of the revenue of all property was naturally opposed by the
tax farmers Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contract ...
and found little support. Indeed, his work, written in a diffuse and inelegant style, passed almost unnoticed. Saint-Simon relates that he once asked a hearing of the
comte de Pontchartrain ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...
, saying that he would at first take him for a fool, then he would see that he deserved attention, and that eventually, he would be satisfied with his system. Pontchartrain, who was besieged with innumerable advice givers, began to laugh replying that he would go no further than the first, and turned his back on him. With Michel de Chamillart, whom he had known as
intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...
of Rouen (1689–1690), there was a plan to experiment with Boisguilbert's ideas in one province but the plan was abandoned when it was realized that the effort would provoke the collapse of the existing tax system before the experiment began. Upon the publication of Vauban's, '' La Dîme royale'' in 1707 which had much in common with Boisguilbert's plan, Boisguilbert published ''Supplément au détail de la France''. Both Vauban's and Boisguilbert's books were condemned. In addition, Boisguilbert was exiled to
Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
for six months. At last in 1710 the controller-general,
Nicolas Desmarets Nicolas Desmaretz, marquis de Maillebois (10 September 1648, Paris – 4 May 1721, Paris) was a Controller-General of Finances during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Desmaretz was a nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Taken out of school at a ...
, established a new tax, the tenth (''dixième''), which had some analogy with the project of Boisguilbert. Instead of replacing the former taxes, however, Desmarets simply added his ''dixième'' to them.


Publications

In 1712 appeared a ''Testament politique de M. de Vauban'', which is simply Boisguilberts ''Détail de la France''. Vauban's ''Dîme royale'' was formerly wrongly attributed to him. Boisguilberts works were collected by Daire in the first volume of the ''Collection des grands économistes''. His letters are in the ', vol. i., published by A. M. de Boislisle. A complete study of Boisguilbert, his ideas and his writings was published by the Institut National d'Études Démographiques in 1966.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boisguilbert, Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de 1646 births 1714 deaths French economists Physiocrats French nobility Jansenists Lawyers from Rouen 17th-century French judges