Re-reading Francois Quesnay's Tableau Economique for accounting and beyond

This paper introduces the literature of Francois Quesnay that speaks to two contemporary problematics: first, the humankind's relationship with nature (specifically with land). Second, Quesnay's Tableau - the forerunner of studies of economic instability induced by ruptures between, inter alia, finance, production, and consumer sectors. Using numerous historical sources and relating them to today's dilemmas. That today's economic and financial crises have sent the literary-minded scurrying back to the classics for insight and succour. The dastardly exploits of the Ponzi artist Bernie Madoff call to mind The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 1950) or The Way We Live Now (Trollope, 1941). 'When hard-core free-marketeers like Richard Posner (2009) are questioning the efficacy of capitalism, the works of Quesnay, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Karl Marx are being fished out of the dustbin of history' (Daniel Gross, The New York Times International Edition, July 2009). This paper uses Quesnay's work and applies it to present-day problems.