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

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

Underconsumption theory dates to the earlier economic theory of mercantilism, and an early history of underconsumptionism is given in Mercantilism, by Eli Heckscher, vol.

The introduction of the capitalist mode of production spans the period from Mercantilism to Imperialism and is usually associated with the emergence of modern industrial society.

Mercantilism, according to Foucault, was the first rationalization of the exercise of power as a practice of government ; it is the first time that a knowledge of the state can be employed as tactics for the state, namely statistics.

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

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.

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 ).

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.

Mercantilism can be seen as the economic justification of the aggressive pursuit of the national interest.

Foucault begins to trace through this development through the political model of reform and one crucial development was the economy, a politics of economic calculation with Mercantilism and for Foucault this was not just a theory but was above all else a political practice.

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.

Mercantilism declined in Great Britain in the mid-18th century, when a new group of economic theorists, led by Adam Smith, challenged fundamental mercantilist doctrines as the belief that the amount of the world's wealth remained constant and that a state could only increase its wealth at the expense of another state.

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.

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 focused on how this trade could best aid the states.

Mercantilism helped create trade patterns such as the triangular trade in the North Atlantic, in which raw materials were imported to the metropolis and then processed and redistributed to other colonies.

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

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.

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

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 )

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

The Bourbon economic philosophy, moreover, is not very different from that of Northern conservatives.

The general acceptance of the idea of governmental ( i.e., societal ) responsibility for the economic well-being of the American people is surely one of the two most significant watersheds in American constitutional history.

Recognizing that the Rule of Law is `` a dynamic concept which should be employed not only to safeguard the civil and political rights of the individual in a free society '', the Congress asserted that it also included the responsibility `` to establish social, economic, educational and cultural conditions under which his legitimate aspirations and dignity may be realized ''.

The consciousness it mirrors may have come earlier to Europe than to America, but it is the consciousness that most `` mature '' societies arrive at when their successes in technological and economic systematization propel them into a time of examining the not-strictly-practical ends of culture.

And it is precisely in this poorer economic class that one finds, and has always found, the most racial friction.

Although we continue to pay our conversational devotions to `` free private enterprise '', `` individual initiative '', `` the democratic way '', `` government of the people '', `` competition of the marketplace '', etc., we live rather comfortably in a society in which economic competition is diminishing in large areas, bureaucracy is corroding representative government, technology is weakening the citizen's confidence in his own power to make decisions, and the threat of war is driving him economically and physically into the ground ''.

The goal is to enlist all available economic resources in the industrialized Free World, especially private investment capital.

Britain in the nineteenth century is a textbook designed `` to give the sense of continuous growth, to show how economic led to social, and social to political change, how the political events reacted on the economic and social, and how new thoughts and new ideals accompanied or directed the whole complicated process ''.

Conceived as an organ of economic cooperation, there is no reason why O.E.C.D. cannot evolve into a broader instrument of union if its members so desire.

Confidence in the state's economic future is reflected in the Georgia Power Company's record construction budget for this year.

forecasting economic activity is a hazardous undertaking even for the specialist.

And then there is St. Louis county, where the Democratic leadership has shown little appreciation of the need for sound zoning, of the important relationship between proper land use and economic growth.

Gen. Taylor will report to President Kennedy in a few days on the results of his visit to South Viet Nam and, judging from some of his remarks to reporters in the Far East, he is likely to urge a more efficient mobilization of Vietnamese military, economic, political and other resources.

One of the most important is economic.

The only hope which good teachers have for being paid their due is to stop dragging the dead weight of poor teachers up the economic ladder with them.

The pressure for our entry to the Common Market is mounting and we will proceed towards this amalgamated trade union by way of a purely `` economic thoroughfare '', or garden path, with the political ramifications kept neatly in the background.

The appeal is going to be to the pocketbook and may be very convincing to those who do not see its relation to political and legal, as well as economic, self-rule.

To think that we can merely relinquish our economic autonomy without giving up our political or legal autonomy is wishful thinking.

Since the goal of our international planners is a World Government, this Atlantic Community would mark a giant step in that direction for, once American economic autonomy is absorbed, a larger grouping is a question of time.