Mercantilism

Welcome To The Presentation Of
Mercantilism

Prepared For
Mr. Md. Ruhul Amin
Assistant Professor
Department of Management
Bangladesh University of Business & Technology

Group Name- Pandemonium
Group Members:
Kaniz Fatima---ID-10111101121---Intake------23 rd
Fariha Ahmad--ID-10111101092---Intake------23 rd
Tarich Khalasi--ID-10112101111---Intake------24th
Program-BBA
Bangladesh University of Business & Technology

Mercantilism the first theory of international
trade, is an economic concept for the purpose
of building a wealthy and powerful state,
which believes that the wealth of a nation
could only be achieved through government
controls and regulation of trade, commerce
and economic activities. It involves wealth
accumulation, establishment of favorable
trade with other countries, and development
of internal resources in the manufacturing and
agriculture sectors. The economic policies
that pursued by the Mercantilists, such as
Governmental control of the use and
exchange of precious metals, which is often
referred to as Bullionism.

ADAM SMITH coined the term
“mercantile system” to describe the
system of political economy that sought
to enrich the country by restraining
imports and encouraging exports. This
system dominated Western European
economic thought and policies,
including Portugal, France, Spain, and
Great Britain from the sixteenth to the
late eighteenth centuries. Its use was
favored by writers such as JeanBaptiste Colbert, who at a time served
as the French Finance Minister.

The basic concepts of mercantilism in terms of trading are:
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This approach assumes the wealth of a nation depends primarily on
the possession of precious metals such as gold and silver.
During 16th to 18th century, gold and silver were the currency of trade
between countries.
By exporting goods, countries could earn and therefore maximize
the amount of gold and silver. Conversely, importing goods from
other countries resulted in an outflow of gold and silver to those
countries.

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The basic concept of mercantilism in terms of trading is to make
sure that the country’s own resources are exported to other
countries in higher volumes or amounts compared to the goods
imported, which are kept to a minimum level. Trading is said to be
“balanced” if a country exports more than it imports. Through this
system, resources will increase and there will be a surplus on gold
and silver reserves.
In the words of the English mercantilist writer Thomas Mun, “The
ordinary means therefore to increase our wealth and treasure is by
foreign trade, wherein we must ever observe this rule” to sell more
to strangers yearly than we consume of theirs in value”.
This theory suggests that the government should play an active role
in the economy by encouraging exports and discouraging imports,
especially through the use of tariffs.

Features of a Mercantilist Economy:
1)
Import prohibition of certain goods using imposition of high tariffs,
government legislation or very high taxes/import duties.
2)
A wide range of government subsidies on export industries to
promote the country’s export-based policy.
3)
Policies of nationalism.
4)
Accumulation of assets in gold and silver, and prohibition of
private accumulation, use or export of these items.
5)
One-way trade with colonies, and importation of gold and raw
materials from these sources.

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Mercantilist policies have included:
High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods;
Exclusive trade with colonies;
Forbidding trade to be carried in foreign ships;
Export subsidies;
Banning all export of gold and silver;
Promoting manufacturing with research or direct subsidies;
Limiting wages;
Maximizing the use of domestic resources.

Assumpition:
Three Assumptions of Mercantilism:
1) There is a finite amount of wealth in the world.
2) A nation can only grow rich at the expense of other nations.
3) Therefore, a nation should try to achieve and maintain a favorable
trade balance, exporting more than it imports.
The Use of Colonies to Achieve a Favorable Trade Balance:
1) The economy of the colonies is always secondary to the economy of
the mother country.

2) The colonies should provide cheap raw materials to the mother
country and market the manufactured goods of the mother country.
3) In return, the mother country provides military security and political
administration to the colonies.
4) The overriding goal is national monopoly, meaning that a nation’s
colonies should be restricted to trading only with each other or with
the mother country.

The Austrian lawyer and scholar Philipp Wilhelm von Hornick, in his
Austria Over All, If She Only Will of 1684, detailed a nine-point
program of what he deemed effective national economy, which
sums up the tenets of mercantilism comprehensively:
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That every inch of a country's soil be utilized for agriculture, mining
or manufacturing.
• All raw materials found in a country should be used in domestic
manufacture, since finished goods have a higher value than raw
materials.
• A large, working population should be encouraged.
• All export of gold and silver should be prohibited and all domestic
money be kept in circulation.

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That all imports of foreign goods should be discouraged as much as
possible.
Where certain imports are indispensable they should be obtained at
first hand, in exchange for other domestic goods instead of gold and
silver.
As much as possible, imports should be confined to raw materials
that can be finished [in the home country].
Those opportunities should be constantly sought for selling a
country's surplus manufactures to foreigners, so far as necessary,
for gold and silver.
That no importation should be allowed if such goods are sufficiently
and suitably supplied at home.

Example of Mercantilism:
Mercantilist doctrine is by no means dead; Neo-Mercantilists equate
political power with economic power with a balance of trade surplus.
Critics argue that many nations have adopted a neo-mercantilist
approach to boost exports and minimize or limit imports. For
example, China has recently been criticized for using the
mercantilist system, deliberately keeping its currency value low
against the U.S. dollar in order to sell more goods to the U.S. China
for many years has been successful at distributing their goods and
services to other countries, and severely limiting the imports they
take in return. This has allowed China to amass considerable wealth
in foreign currencies. Economists point out, that like European
countries who eventually had to abandon mercantilism, China may
be at that point as well, if they want to continue to develop their
wealth.

Criticism:
Adam Smith and David Hume were the founding fathers of antimercantilist thought; This practice was strongly attacked by Adam
Smith in his 1776 work “The Wealth of Nations”. The criticisms of
mercantilism are given elaborately•

Mercantilists viewed the economic system as a “zero-sum game”, in
which a gain by one country results in a loss by other. Adam Smith
& David Ricardo argued that, trade should be a positive-sum game,
or a situation in which all countries can benefit.

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Mercantilism unduly emphasized the importance of money and
over-emphasized the importance of gold and silver. So Mercantilist
ideas about wealth were nonsensical and untenable.

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The mercantilists unduly emphasized the importance of a favorable
balance of trade. For the attainment of this objective they
discouraged imports by imposing heavy and prohibitive duties on
foreign goods and provided every possible ways to minimize
exports.
The mercantilist assumption that the colonies existed for the benefit
of the mother was not a sound economic proposition.
Mercantilism was a cause of frequent European wars in that time
and motivated colonial expansion.
The mercantilist policies were designed to benefit the government
and the commercial class, rather than the entire population.

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The mercantilism over-emphasized the importance of commerce
and greatly undermined the importance of agriculture and other
branches of human industry.
It does not promote free enterprise and free movement of goods
and people. And instead it allowed colonialism and monopoly of
businesses and trade practices. Objectives were simply to generate
wealth for the upper class and merchant class. The working people
were exploited and were even made as slaves with very low wages.
Finally, Smith argued that the collusive relationship between
government and industry was harmful to the general population. He
criticized mercantilist trade policy of intervening and monopolizing
trade business.

Conclusion:
Mercantilist regulations were steadily removed over the course of
the Eighteenth Century in Britain, and during the 19th century the
British government fully embraced free trade and Smith's laissezfaire economics. In France, economic control remained in the hands
of the royal family and mercantilism continued until the French
Revolution. The continued pressure resulted in the implementation
of laissez faire economics in the nineteenth century.

Mercantilism

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