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French lawyer, government official and Physiocrat.
Born into a well-connected Breton family, Louis-Paul Abeille served from 1758 as a lawyer in the Breton Estates and king's procurator in the Breton marches. Abeille became inspector-general of commerce and manufactures. Having served as Trudaine's secretary, he was appointed in 1768 secretary-general of the Bureau of Commerce in Paris (a position that had been previously promised to Morellet).
Despite his provincial roots, Abeille's early writings, notably the Corps d'observation (written under the direction of the Vicent de Gournay) quickly brought him to the attention of Enlightenment economists in Paris. He was an early convert to Physiocracy, being probably the third disciple of Quesnay, after Mirabeau. Abeille promoted their ideas in several publications (all anonymous), notably the Principes (which drew praise from the Physiocrats, and was duly attacked by Forbonnais). Nonetheless, Abeille seemed attracted more to the laissez-faire policy prescriptions, preferring to focus on the effects of particular barriers to trade, than the general points and nuances of Physiocratic theory. As a result, he was gradually pipped in the master's attentions by the capable young Dupont de Nemours. It was a quarrel with Dupont that prompted Abeille to break with the Physiocrats after 1768. In his later years, he became increasingly associated with Neo-Colbertistes like Necker.
Abeille was one of the leading members of the Société Royale d'Agriculture of Paris (f. 1785). He was ennobled in 1787 by Louis XVI.
Major Works of Louis-Paul Abeille
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