Essai sur le commerce

The work presents a systematic account of political economy, beginning by locating the material basis of wealth in land and human labor and then examining how property arrangements, production choices, and social organization shape distribution of output. It analyzes agricultural yields, rent, wages, prices, money and credit, and the effects of monetary expansion on prices and trade. Drawing on empirical observation, it traces how markets coordinate production and how capital and risk-taking influence commerce and industry, and it discusses taxation, population dynamics, and practical policy consequences for trade and public finance.