From spending and reproduction to circuit flow and equilibrium: the two conceptions of Tableau économique

Abstract

There are two main versions of the Tableau economique the Zig-Zag of 1758–9 and the Formule of 1766–7. They differ in aims and working. The zig-zag show on the micro level how production depends on landlords' preferences and expenditure. There are no balances of receipts and expenditure, no circular flow, and no equilbrium. The The Formule presents on the macro level a closed economy in an optimal state of prosperity, and in a general equilibrium where receipts and expenditure are balanced for all classes; here at least equal strees is laid on the dependence of the net product on farmers' captial. The new aims are suggested in 1760 and partly realized in Philosophie rurale (1763) which makes the rupture in the development of the Tableau This rupture entails a partly new account of the use values of agricultural produce and of manufacturers' advances, a new conception of the reproduced revenue and a desertion from the pattern, a new conception of the reproduced revenue and a desertion from the pattern of s...