Turgot’s Capital Theory

This article examines Turgot’s capital theory. It calls attention for his methodological procedure in deriving first the very concept of capital out of the analysis of circulation, for then to inquire on its possible employments, among them that of acting as advances in production. In doing so, Turgot changes into a logical result what was a mere supposition of the physiocratic analysis, namely, the existence of a class of entrepreneurs as the owners of required amount of resources for carrying on production.

KEYWORDS:
History of economic thought; physiocracy; capital theory; Turgot