HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jacques Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (; 28 May 1712,
Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...
– 27 June 1759,
Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
), a
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
economist, became an
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 commerce. Some historians of economics believe that he coined the phrase '' laissez faire, laissez passer''. Evidence was to be found when the French State parted the West Indies Company privilege - monopoly - on the slave trade. He is also credited with coining the term "bureaucracy". Together with François Quesnay, whose disciple he was, he was a leader of the
Physiocrat Physiocracy (; from the Greek for "government of nature") is an economic theory developed by a group of 18th-century Age of Enlightenment French economists who believed that the wealth of nations derived solely from the value of "land agricult ...
ic School. Gournay's father was Claude Vincent, a merchant in Saint-Malo as well as a secretary to the king. Gournay didn't write much, but had a great influence on French economic thought through his conversations with many important theorists. He became instrumental in popularizing the work of
Richard Cantillon Richard Cantillon (; 1680s – ) was an Irish-French economist and author of '' Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général'' (''Essay on the Nature of Trade in General''), a book considered by William Stanley Jevons to be the "cradle of p ...
in France. Gournay was appointed an ''intendant du commerce'' in 1751. One of the main themes of his term in office was his opposition to government regulations because of what he saw as the way they stunted commerce. He coined the term ''bureaucratie'' (literally "government by desks") to describe the situation. Gournay's disdain for government regulation of commerce influenced his disciple Turgot. Gournay's first name is often mistakenly given as "Jean", due to an error made by Turgot in his letter to
Jean-François Marmontel Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with ...
known as ''In Praise of Gournay''. A street in Saint-Malo, the ''Rue Vincent-de-Gournay'', takes its name from him.


References

1712 births 1759 deaths French classical liberals Physiocrats 18th-century French economists {{France-academic-bio-stub