1. Members of an 18th-century French school of economic thought that believed agriculture was the source of all wealth and that free trade and minimal government intervention were essential to economic prosperity.
Usage: historical; plural form; singular is physiocrat; economics

Examples

• The physiocrats challenged the mercantilist theories that dominated European economic policy in the 1700s.
• Physiocrats argued that land and agriculture, not manufacturing, were the true foundations of national wealth.
• François Quesnay and Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot were among the most influential physiocrats of their era.
• The physiocrats advocated for the abolition of tariffs and trade restrictions to promote economic growth.
• Many of the ideas promoted by physiocrats later influenced the development of classical economics.