Mercantilism holds that the wealth of a nation is increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations, and corresponds to the phase of capitalist development called the Primitive accumulation of capital.

Mercantilism is the economic doctrine that government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and military security of the state.

Mercantilism focused on how this trade could best aid the states.

Mercantilism was a policy followed by empires, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, forbidding or limiting trade outside the empire.

It also came down on the side of Economic liberalism ( as opposed to Mercantilism ) in the economic debate then raging in republican circles ( and therefore promised to do away with guilds and internal impediments to trade ).

Mercantilism held that a nation's prosperity depended on its supply of capital, represented by bullion ( gold, silver, and trade value ) held by the state.

Mercantilism was the school of thought that held that a positive balance of trade was of primary importance for any nation and required a ban on the export of gold and silver.

Robert Haywood, in his article “ Mercantilism and South Carolina Agriculture, 1700-1763 ,” argues that “ it was unthinkable that any trade could prosper in the straight-jacket of regimented and restricted international trade, without the guiding hand of a powerful protecting government .”

Mercantilism was a system of trade for profit, although commodities were still largely produced by non-capitalist production methods.

* Mercantilism, where national governments sought to maintain positive balances of trade and acquire gold bullion

According to Wallerstein, Mercantilism became the major tool of semi-peripheral, newly industrialized countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium.

According to Machlup, such usage first appears in the 1935 English translation of Hecksher's 1931 book Merkantilismen ( Mercantilism in English ), and independently in Gaedicke's and von Eyern's 1933 two-volume study Die produktionswirtschaftliche Integration Europas: Eine Untersuchung über die Aussenhandelsverflechtung der europäischen Länder.

Some constituent states of the empire did embrace Mercantilism, most notably Prussia, which under Frederick the Great had perhaps the most rigidly controlled economy in Europe.

As Mercantilism became the dominant economic theory of the Renaissance, merchants tended to conduct their business in the same buildings, which might include retail sales, warehousing and clerical work.

According to a bibliography published in 1950, Heckscher had as of the previous year published 1148 books and articles, among which may be mentioned his study of Mercantilism, translated into several languages, and a monumental Economic history of Sweden in several volumes.

Foucault takes a look at these general practices through looking at the economic practices involved from the 18th century ( where Mercantilism was at its peak ) where a coherence strategy established an intelligible mechanism which provided a coherent link, together these different practices and their effects, and consequently allows one to judge all these practices as good or bad, not in terms of a law or moral principle, but in terms of propositions subject to the false dichotomy between true and false.

More accurately, while on the Continent, Steuart had imbibed the sophisticated Enlightenment Mercantilism that was in the air — particularly, German Neo-Cameralism -- which combined a legal-statist approach with a " natural " approach to economics.

Mercantilism was closely aligned with the other theories and ideas that were replacing the medieval worldview.

Mercantilism was centered in England and France, and it was in these states that mercantilist polices were most often enacted.

For example, Shell's two scenarios at the beginning of the 1990s were titled ' Sustainable World ' and ' Global Mercantilism '.

Foucault then considers how Mercantilism played a big role in this new context of European balance of power ; these are the mercantilist requirements: every country should try to have the largest possible population, second ; the entire population be endgible and be put to work, third ; wages given to the population be as low as possible, fourth ; the cost price of goods at the lowest price as possible.

Mercantilism meant that the government and merchants based in England became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires and even merchants based in its own colonies.

Mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires.

Mercantilism fueled the imperialism of this era, as many nations expended significant effort to build new colonies that would be sources of gold ( as in Mexico ) or sugar ( as in the West Indies ), as well as becoming exclusive markets.

Mercantilism was the basic policy imposed by Britain on its colonies from the 1660s.

Mercantilism was the basic policy imposed by Britain on its colonies.

Mercantilism is a nationalist form of early capitalism that came into existence approximately in the late 16th century.

Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from the 16th to late-18th centuries.

Mercantilism was a cause of frequent European wars in that time and motivated colonial expansion.

Mercantilism was rejected by Britain and France by the mid-19th century.

Mercantilism in its simplest form was naive bullionism, but mercantilist writers emphasized the circulation of money and rejected hoarding.

Mercantilism encouraged the many intra-European wars of the period and arguably fueled European expansion and imperialism — both in Europe and throughout the rest of the world — until the 19th century or early 20th century.

Mercantilism developed at a time when the European economy was in transition.

Mercantilism arose in France in the early 16th century, soon after the monarchy had become the dominant force in French politics.

Mercantilism became prominent in Central Europe and Scandinavia after the Thirty Years ' War ( 1618 – 1648 ), with Christina of Sweden, Jacob Kettler of Courland, Christian IV of Denmark being notable proponents.

Mercantilism was economic warfare and was well suited to an era of military warfare.

It criticised Mercantilism, and argued that economic specialisation could benefit nations just as much as firms.

Mercantilism inflamed the growing hostilities between the increasingly centralized European powers as the accumulation of precious metals by governments was seen as important to the prestige and power of a modern nation.

Mercantilism is an economic policy that emphasizes the goal of each nation was to gain as much money as possible by whatever means.

Mercantilism was a significant driver of Colonialism, as, according to the theory, the colony existed for the benefit of the mother country.

* Ames, Glenn J. Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French Quest for Asian Trade ( 1996 )

The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750.