Born on 8 May 1727, at Aix-en-Provence, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot was the son of a wool merchant whose father had been successively mayor of Arles, Aix, and Avignon. From the age of nine he was trained for the bar at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He chose law but abandoned it after four years. He then studied mathematics and history, but soon turned to philosophy
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He was graduated doctor of civil law at the age of twenty-one. He was called to the bar in 1750, but after travelling in Germany, where he became interested in politics, he gave up his career as a lawyer. Turgot then studied mathematics and astronomy, and subsequently worked on the improvement of the calendar.
In 1754 he published Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth (2 vols., Paris), which had a profound influence on economics and political thought. After this he published various works on questions relating to state finance or economy. Turgot's views on economic problems were largely influenced by Adam Smith's views on ethics and political economy.
It is said that Smith was greatly influenced by Turgot's work even though they had never met. Turgot died in Paris on 26 November 1781.