born , May 10, 1727, Paris, France
died March 18, 1781, Paris
French administrator and economist.
He entered the royal administrative branch of the magistracy in 1753, then became intendant (governor) of Limoges (1761–74), where he instituted economic and administrative reforms. A physiocrat , in 1766 he wrote his best-known work, Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth . In 1774 he was appointed comptroller general by Louis XVI and introduced his Six Edicts to expand economic reforms. His effort to abolish the corvée (unpaid forced labour by peasants) was opposed by the privileged classes, and he was dismissed in 1776.