To this state of latent crisis, the 6 years war added new problems as France and Britain fought for hegemony in the New Continent.
This war aggravated the problems of the French treasury, already under great pressure, as was commonly the case under the Ancien Régime.
The treasury's problem were among the first that engaged the physiocrats and merely bore out the desperate situation of the French economy.
It was against this background that the physiocrats developed their theories.
In the final analysis, their objective was reformist, and their starting point the description of the problems afflicting the French monarchy.