The Turgot Collection

Remarks on the Notes
to the Translation of Josiah Child

Turgot suggests that high interest rates encourage lending; but if this process is used to build up a large fortune, people who have accumulated it will after a while tend to dissipate it in spending on luxuries. Efforts by the state to regulate interest reflect an undue partiality to consumers. In general, regulation of the economy is unnecessary. The fear of loss of reputation will operate as an incentive to manufacturers to fulfill what they promise. Large amounts of military spending by a state are undesirable. If it is argued that small states such as Genoa and Venice need heavy spending on the military to defend themselves, the answer is that such expenditures would not be sufficient to prevent invasion by a larger state. These expenditures are thus useless.