This situation had led high-ranking government officials to consider proposals for reform, though not before carrying out meticulous descriptions of the causes of crisis, many of which were linked to the nature of the Absolutist state itself.
Among these authors Boisguilbert and Vauban stand out. Boisguilbert's conception of an economy governed by natural laws and his vision of the economic interdependence of the different social classes led him to liberalism. He was a philo-Jansenist and his vision of economic activity was at odds with the predominant view of the time. Vauban, for his part, advocated fiscal reform and the creation of a single tax on income rather than on wealth or consumption.