Editing Physiocracy (section)

==Precursors==
Physiocracy is an [[Agrarianism|agrarianist]] philosophy which developed in the context of the predominantly rural, pre-industrial European society of the time. In the late [[Roman Republic]], the dominant [[Roman Senate|senatorial class]] was not allowed to engage in banking or commerce<ref name="Byrd, 34">Byrd (1995), 34</ref> but relied on their ''[[latifundia]]'', large plantations, for income. They circumvented this rule through freedmen proxies who sold surplus agricultural goods.

Other inspiration came from [[Economic history of China (pre-1911)|China's economic system]], then the largest in the world. Chinese society broadly distinguished [[four occupations]], with [[scholar-bureaucrats]] (who were also [[Gentry (China)|agrarian landlords]]) at the top and merchants at the bottom (because they did not produce but only distributed goods made by others). Leading physiocrats like [[François Quesnay]] were avid [[Confucianism|Confucianists]] who advocated China's agrarian policies.<ref name=":2">Derk Bodde (2005), [http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/html/state/ideas.pdf Chinese Ideas in the West] p.6, Reprinted with permission in China: A Teaching Workbook, Asia for Educators, Columbia University</ref> Some scholars have advocated connections with the school of [[agriculturalism]], which promoted utopian communalism.<ref>Maverick, Lewis A. (1938). "Chinese Influences Upon the Physiocrats". Economic History 3.</ref> One of the integral parts of physiocracy, [[laissez-faire]], was adopted from Quesnay's writings on China,<ref name=Baghdiantz>{{cite book|last=Baghdiantz McCabe|first=Ina|title=Orientalism in Early Modern France: Eurasian Trade Exoticism and the Ancien Regime|year=2008|publisher=Berg Publishers|isbn=978-1845203740|pages=271–272}}</ref> being a translation of the Chinese [[Taoism]] term [[wu wei]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=J.J.|title=Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter Between Asian and Western Thought|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415133760|page=50}}</ref> The concept natural order of physiocracy originated from "Way of Nature" of Chinese Taoism.<ref name=":2" />