Considerations on the development of Quesnay's Tableau Économique

The chapter goes over the main stages in the development of Quesnay’s Tableau Économique. The traditional interpretation of this development as a fundamentally continuous process of clarification and elaboration is confirmed. By discussing the opposite view, however, a clearer picture of the path followed by Quesnay between the first drafting of the Tableau and its first public appearance is obtained, while a role is ascribed in the formulation that marks the last stage in the development of the Tableau to the difficulties Quesnay met in reaffirming the sterility of the manufacturing sector.