Nicolas Baudeau

Nicolas Baudeau (French: [bodo]; 25 April 1730 – 1792) was a Catholic cleric, theologian and economist, who was born in Amboise, France.

[1] In 1765 he founded the first economics periodical to be published in France, Éphémérides du citoyen, and was at first an opponent of the physiocrats.

[5] One of Baudeau's influential works, Idées d'un citoyen sur l'administration des finances du Roi, was critical of the commission established in 1764 by Clément Charles François de Laverdy for the purpose of drafting new laws on vagabonds, beggars, and the central distribution of alms.

Baudeau argued that the governmental provision of alms to the poor was a more important goal than the passing of laws prohibiting poverty.

[6] In 1768, Baudeau was recruited by Ignacy Jakub Massalski, the Bishop of Vilnius, in order to bring physiocratic ideas to Poland.