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17

Mercantile Ideas Definition

Posted 17. November 2022 by Logistik-Express in Allgemein

Information provided by commercial or debt collection agencies on applications for commercial purposes is clearly privileged. Unfortunately, few cities were able to advertise such mercantile titles in the business climate. Before mercantilism, the most important economic work in Europe was done by medieval scholastics. The aim of these thinkers was to find an economic system compatible with the Christian teachings of piety and justice. They focused mainly on microeconomics and local exchanges between individuals. Mercantilism was closely related to the other theories and ideas that began to replace the medieval worldview. During this period, the adoption of the very Machiavellian realpolitik and the primacy of purpose in international relations took place. The mercantilist idea of all trade as a zero-sum game, in which each side tried to defeat the other in ruthless competition, was incorporated into the works of Thomas Hobbes. This bleak view of human nature also fit well with the Puritan worldview, and some of the harshest mercantilist laws, such as the Navigation Ordinance of 1651, were enacted by Oliver Cromwell`s government. [47] Scholars are equally divided on the cause of the end of mercantilism.

Those who believe that the theory was simply a mistake note that its replacement was inevitable once Smith`s more precise ideas were revealed. Those who believe that mercantilism amounted to rent-seeking claim that it only ended when great power shifts took place. In Britain, mercantilism faded when Parliament gained the monarch`s power to grant monopolies. While the wealthy capitalists who controlled the House of Commons benefited from these monopolies, Parliament struggled to implement them because of the high cost of group decisions. [53] By 1860, England had eliminated the last vestiges of the commercial age. Industrial regulations, monopolies and tariffs were abolished, emigration and exports of machinery were liberalized. Largely because of its free trade policies, England became the dominant economic power in Europe. England`s success as a manufacturing and financial power, coupled with the United States as an emerging agricultural power, led to renewed protectionist pressures in Europe and the arms race between Germany, France and England, which eventually led to World War I. Although his practices ultimately proved unsuccessful, his ideas were very popular until they were eclipsed by free market theory. The term “mercantile system” was used by its main critic, Adam Smith,[40] but Mirabeau (1715-1789) had already used “mercantilism”. He was associated with the New York Merchant Navy from an early age. She thought it was mercantile speculation that had kept me out of my home, and as you can believe, I didn`t cheat on her.

Arguably the most influential proponent of mercantilism, the French Comptroller General of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), studied the economic theories of foreign trade and was particularly well placed to implement these ideas. A staunch monarchist, Colbert called for an economic strategy that protected the French crown from an emerging Dutch merchant class. In 2010, the word “mercantilism” remains a derogatory term often used to attack various forms of protectionism. [58] The similarities between Keynesianism (and its successor ideas) and mercantilism have sometimes led critics to label them neo-mercantilism. The importance attached to gold bar was also a central focus, although many mercantilists themselves began to overlook the importance of gold and silver. Adam Smith noted that the heart of the trading system was the “popular folly of confusing wealth and money,” that gold bars were exactly the same as any other commodity, and that there was no reason to give it special treatment. [17] More recently, researchers have rejected the validity of this criticism. They believe that Mun and Misselden did not make this mistake in the 1620s, and point to their followers Josiah Child and Charles Davenant, who wrote in 1699: “Gold and silver are indeed the standards of trade, but that the source and original of it in all nations is the natural or artificial product of the earth; that is, what this country or this work and industry produces.

[51] The criticism that mercantilism was a form of rent-seeking was also criticized, as scholars such as Jacob Viner pointed out in the 1930s that mercantilist merchants like Mun understood that they would not benefit from higher prices for English products abroad. [52] Upstairs, in the lower attics, every conceivable human curiosity was gathered in a kind of crazy and mercantile quilt. Most mercantilist policies were the result of the relationship between nation-state governments and their mercantile classes. In exchange for paying duties and taxes to support the armies of nation-states, the mercantile classes incentivized governments to adopt policies that would protect their commercial interests from foreign competition. Mercantilism comes from the term “mercantile,” which refers to merchants and commerce. In a broader sense, mercantilism is the philosophy and belief that trade with other nations should be regulated by what is now called “protectionism.” With the establishment of overseas colonies by the European powers in the early 17th century, mercantile theory acquired a new and broader meaning in which its purpose and ideal became both national and imperialist. [37] [citation needed for verification] Jean-Baptiste Colbert`s work in the France of the 17th century has become an example of classical mercantilism. In the English-speaking world, his ideas were criticized by Adam Smith with the publication of The Wealth of Nations in 1776 and later by David Ricardo with his statement of comparative advantage.

Mercantilism was rejected by Britain and France in the mid-19th century. The British Empire embraced free trade and used its power as the world`s financial center to promote it. Guyanese historian Walter Rodney describes mercantilism as the period of global development of European trade, which began in the 15th century with the travels of Portuguese and Spanish explorers to Africa, Asia and the New World. In my hometown, the local commercial enterprise closed in the 1950s, giving way to more modern businesses. I wonder if general stores were commonly referred to as merchandise stores at the time, or if the one I experienced briefly was an anomaly. Adam Smith criticized the mercantile doctrine that focused on production in the economy, saying that consumption was paramount for consumption. In addition, the trading system was very popular among traders as it was now called rental search. [55] John Maynard Keynes confirmed that the motivation of the production process was as important as the promotion of consumption, which benefited the new mercantilism. Keynes also confirmed that in the Postclassical period, the main emphasis on gold and silver reserves (bullion) was rational.

At the time, before paper money, the increase of gold and silver was one of the mercantilist methods to increase the reserve or money supply of an economy. Keynes reiterated that the doctrines advocated by mercantilism helped to improve domestic and foreign spending—domestic, because policies lowered the domestic interest rate, and foreign investment, tending to create a favorable trade balance. [56] Keynes and other 20th century economists also recognized that the balance of payments is an important concern. Keynes also supported state intervention in the economy as a necessity, as did mercantilism. [57] Most European economists who wrote between 1500 and 1750 are now generally regarded as mercantilists; This term was initially used only by critics such as Mirabeau and Smith, but historians quickly adopted it.

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