Turgot's Valeurs et monnaies: our incomplete knowledge of an incomplete manuscript

Valeurs et monnaies is Turgot's most enigmatic contribution to economic theory. A comparison is made between the published transcripts of this text and manuscript fragments preserved in Lyon. Two main conclusions are drawn. First, no completely reliable transcript of the text has been published. Second, differences between the Lyon fragments and the published transcripts suggest that the former were part of an earlier draft than the better known Lantheuil manuscript. Some reflections are added about the fact that the latter manuscript is incomplete and has been inaccessible for many years.