VINCENT DE GOURNAY
(Jacques Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay)
Gourney used this quotation to indicate that some things might be better if government did not get involved or did not intervene. He was a strong advocate of lifting trade restrictions. The French first two words of this quotation, has since become a part of the political language of every country-- Laissez faire. In most it even is the name for a certain type of political philosophy or approach to government. It was used shortly after the original speech by Adam Smith and other English political figures and is found in almost every English Dictionary.
Jacques Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay, a French economist, became an intendant of commerce. Some historians of economics believe that he coined the phrase laissez faire, laissez passer. Evidence was to be found when the French State parted the West Indies Company privilege - monopoly - on the slave trade. He is also credited with coining the term "bureaucracy". Together with François Quesnay, whose disciple he was, he was a leader of the Physiocratic School.
