Reconstructions of Franҫois Quesnay’s Theory of Value

<jats:p>This article presents an immanent reconstruction of François Quesnay’s theory of value based on a systematic analysis of his key economic writings. Contrary to the widespread historiographical view that Quesnay lacked a developed theory of value, the author demonstrates that the founder of physiocracy articulated an internally consistent system of theoretical propositions covering the substance of value, its measure, forms of surplus value, and the mechanism of its realization. The substance of value in Quesnay’s framework is shown to be dual in nature: it combines land as a bearer of nature’s gratuitous productive force with the labour of the farmer who activates this capacity. The measure of value consists of production costs (avances) adjusted through the mechanism of free competition and foreign trade. The net product (produit net) is interpreted as the sole form of surplus value, arising exclusively in agriculture. The article reconstructs the differences between the value structure in agriculture and manufacturing, the mechanism by which avances are transformed into net product, the role of money in value realization, and the relationship between value and market price. It is demonstrated that the farmer's profit (interest on advances) functions as a necessary but 'non-disposable' cost element ensuring capital accumulation, and is deliberately excluded by Quesnay from the net product for fiscal-political reasons. The results are situated within the major interpretive traditions – Marxist, neo-Ricardian, Leontief-based, and institutional – thereby resolving the contradiction between «naturalistic» and «formalist» readings of the physiocratic system.</jats:p>