Interdependence and independence in Cantillon's Essai

John Berdell ()

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2009, vol. 16, issue 2, 221-249

Abstract: Cantillon's contribution to economic thought is widely understood to lie in his systematic examination of economic interconnectedness. The model developed here brings profits fully into price determination, casts additional light on Cantillon's treatment of distribution, and provides the first extended analysis of the policy recommendations found in part one of his Essai. These anti-urban policies are examined in relation to French urbanization and William Petty's analysis of Irish economic development. Entrepreneurial risk-bearing is central to the Essai and this model, yet for Cantillon landlord tastes determine the economy's equilibrium position. This view is mirrored in his treatment of class mobility: only by becoming landed proprietors can entrepreneurs escape dependence and become independent or autonomous determiners of society. Indeed, social mobility actually accounts for the 'independence' of the landed proprietors as a group. Rent's special role stems not so much from the nature of land or agriculture - as Physiocracy would emphasize - as from the nature of the social forces determining its ownership.

Keywords: Cantillon; classical economics; income distribution; Petty; demography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09672560902890988 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:16:y:2009:i:2:p:221-249

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/REJH20

DOI: 10.1080/09672560902890988

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought is currently edited by José Luís Cardoso

More articles in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().