Le Trosne, Guillaume François (1728–1780)

Abstract

French lawyer and economist. Born in Orléans, Le Trosne studied natural law philosophy with Pothier in preparation for work as a magistrate. In 1753 he was appointed Royal Councillor at the Orléans Presidial Court, whence he retired in 1773. Le Trosne joined the Physiocrats in 1764 by publishing a book defending the free trade in grain (1765) and articles in Ephémérides and other journals. His major economic work, De l’ordre social, appeared in 1777, its second volume, De l’intérêt social, having major economic content with its discussion of value, circulation, money, industry, and domestic, foreign and colonial trade, partly by way of criticism of Condillac’s (1776) anti-physiocratic views on these subjects. Le Trosne died in Paris in 1780.