Richard Cantillon - Influence

Influence

While Essai was not published until 1755 as a result of heavy censorship in France, it did widely circulate in the form of an unpublished manuscript between its completion and its publication. It notably influenced many direct forerunners of the classical school of thought, including Turgot and other physiocrats. Cantillon was a major influence on physiocrat François Quesnay, who may have learned of Cantillon's work through Marquis of Mirabeau. While it is evident that Essai influenced Quesnay, to what degree remains controversial. There is evidence that Quesnay did not fully understand, or was not completely aware of, Cantillon's theories. Many of Quesnay's economic beliefs were elucidated previously in Essai, but Quesnay did reject a number of Cantillon's premises, including the scarcity of land and Cantillon's population theory. Also, Quesnay recognized the scarcity of capital and capital accumulation as a prerequisite for investment. Nevertheless, Cantillon was considered the "father of physiocracy" by Henry Higgs, due to his influence on Quesnay. It is also possible that Cantillon influenced Scottish economist James Steuart, both directly and indirectly.

Cantillon is one of the few economists cited by Adam Smith, who directly borrows Cantillon's sustenance theory of wages. Large sections of Smith's economic theory were possibly directly influenced by Cantillon, although in many respects Adam Smith advanced well beyond the scope of Cantillon. Some economic historians have stated that Adam Smith provided little of value from his own intellect, notably Schumpeter and Rothbard. In any case, through his influence on Adam Smith and the physiocrats, Cantillon was quite possibly the pre-classical economist who contributed most to the ideas of the classical school. Illustrative of this was Cantillon's influence on Say, which is noticeable in the methodology employed in the latter's Treatise on Political Economy.