Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727–1781) was a French economist and Controller-General of Finances to Louis XVI. After serving in the Parlement of Paris, he met the economists Quesnay and Vincent de Gournay, and in 1754 wrote in support of religious tolerance. He spent thirteen years as intendant of Limoges from 1761, reforming the land tax and writing his Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth.

In 1774 he became navy minister and then controller-general. He freed the grain trade, and in 1776 issued the Six Edicts abolishing the royal corvée and the guilds. Aristocratic and parlementary opposition forced his dismissal in 1776; he died in Paris in 1781.