C H A P T E R F O U R Mercantilism In common scholarly and popular vocabulary, the concept of “mercantilism” designates either a system of economic policy or an epoch in the development of economic doctrine during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries | CHAPTER FOUR Mercantilism Lars G. Magnusson The History of the Concept In common scholarly and popular vocabulary the concept of mercantilism designates either a system of economic policy or an epoch in the development of economic doctrine during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or both of them before the publication of Adam Smith s path-breaking Wealth of Nations 1776 . The bulk of what is commonly known as mercantilist literature appeared in Britain from the 1620s up until the middle of the eighteenth century. However the concept also appeared as a label for trade protection and dirigiste views during later periods most often as neo-mercantilism. Among the first mercantilist writers who are explicitly named as such we find two Englishmen Thomas Mun and Edward Misselden in the 1620s while James Steuart s Principles of Political Oeconomy 1767 is conventionally perceived as perhaps the last major mercantilist work. Most of the mercantilist writers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were businessmen merchants and government officials. They wrote mainly about practical matters concerning trade shipping the economic effects of tariffs and protection of industries monetary issues the devaluation of coins interest rates and so on Magnusson 1994 . The concept of mercantilism first appeared in print in Marquis de Mirabeau s Philosophie Rurale in 1763 as systeme mercantile although it was used by other physiocrats during the same period as well. In France during this period the concept was utilized in order to describe an economic policy regime characterized by direct state intervention intended to protect domestic merchants and manufacturers. This system which was designed primarily to finance state manufactories was more commonly known as Colbertism after the famous seventeenth-century French finance minister. However the main creator of the mercantile system was Adam Smith. According to Smith the core of the mercantile system - the commercial .
