-->Aus Will Durant „Rousseau and Revolution“ S. 75 ff.

David Hume, who visited Quesnay in 1763, thought the physiocrats „the most chimerical and arrogant set of men to be found nowadays since the destruction of Sorbonne.“...Galiani ridiculed with Parisian wit the physiocratic notion that only the land produces wealth. To free the trade in grains from all regulation would ruin the farmers of France, and could produce a famine at home while clever merchants exported French grain to other states. This is precisely what happened in 1768 and 1775.
On September 17, 1754, his (Louis XV) ministry abolished all tolls and restraints on the sale and transport of grains - Wheat, rye, and corn - within the kingdom; in 1764 this freedom was extended to the export of grains except when these should reach a stated price. Left to the operation of supply and demand, the price of bread dropped for a time, but a bad harvest in 1765 raised it far beyond normal. The shortage of grains reached the famine stage in 1768-69; peasants grubbed for food in pigsties, and ate weeds and grass. In a parish of 2200 souls 1800 begged for bread. The people complained that while they faced starvation, speculators were exporting grain....

Gruß b.