In the 18th century, new free-market reforms led to market failure, uprisings and famine — and perhaps even the first sparks of the French Revolution. The ensuing government reversal bears an eerie resemblance to Britain’s crisis today.
'Corn-Market, Paris', 1836. The Corn and Flour Hall was built in 1772 by the Paris authorities, enlarged in 1782 and rebuilt after a fire in 1802. | Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty ImagesJacob Soll is a professor of philosophy, history and accounting at the University of Southern California. He is the author ofWorld markets continue to reel from the British government’s free market reform fiasco.
Turgot was a visionary of economic liberalism. He wrote that the state should never opt to go “bankrupt” because it could take on debt or raise taxes. The most important reforms it could make were to cut spending and use better accounting to manage public finances.
In 1761, King Louis XV named Turgot intendant of the poor Limoges region. His orders were to reduce the misery of the population and spur the local economy. It was here that he would begin the first large-scale liberalization project with the hopes of spurring the grain trade. A fervent believer in lower, proportional taxes to ease pressures on poor peasant consumers, Turgot worked with top scientists to make a land survey to make taxes fairer.
But as he crafted a theory to solve France’s economic woes, he still saw excessive state intervention over bread, the main staple of people’s diet, as the central problem. In times of poor harvest, the crown capped grain prices, kept emergency stores and facilitated grain distribution. Additionally, a number of powerful players — including the king’s brothers — made a fortune on tolls and various grain taxes.
Turgot demanded a crackdown on the “brigand” rioters, and state agents arrested butchers, blacksmiths, wig masters and masons. Turgot became convinced that there was a conspiracy behind the uprising and subjected rioters to rough interrogations to find out who was behind the disturbances. He demanded that priests support the government by teaching “the sublime precepts of religion… that will assure the maintenance of order and justice.
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