Mercantilist Economic Theory

Mercantilist Economic Theory

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FIU

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The aim of most governments is to ensure stability and constant improvement of the economy. During the period between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the European governments sought to achieve this goal by discarding feudalism and adopting mercantilism. Feudalism emphasized on ownership of more land, whereas mercantilism embraced holding other forms of wealth such as precious stones.  This essay elaborates on mercantilists’ thoughts on wealth trade and the effects of such views on wealth from various trades. It also analyzes the vice of slavery within the European countries and how mercantilist economic theory contributed to a high demand for slave manpower^[a].

Mercantilist economic theory refers to a situation whereby the government regulates the economy by demoralizing their citizens from shipping in goods that are available within their state from other states^[b]. The theory also supports consumers who disseminate excess goods to other states in exchange for precious stones. Since the output of the unprocessed goods is deemed precious, the citizens are encouraged to sell the inputs and process the value added goods to avoid benefiting outsiders. A situation where a purchase of goods was mandatory, the state could not exchange them for precious stones but with other locally produced goods. All types of jobs and employments ^[c]within the state were encouraged as this was viewed as a way to improve the economy. The European countries applied the theory even during military actions to outsmart their opponents economically. Also, the theory encouraged landowners to utilize them ^[d]properly and never leave the idle because this would lead to wastage which would in turn contribute to the stunted growth of the economy. Additionally, a higher population was considered as a source of the state's income because a greater number would be engaged in various economic developing activities.

Under the mercantilist economic theory, wealth was measured by the amount of gold, silver, bronze and diamonds accumulated during daily in state activities. Also, a large population is termed viewed to be wealthy population since it was made up of productive individuals. Therefore, to acquire more wealth, the states focused on increasing their populations.  Another way of identifying wealth was by widening the gap between the imports and exports and as such, the imports remain were limited.

Since the demand for more labor kept rising, the Europeans resolved to slavery^[e]. Their action ^[f]faced oppositions as anti-slavery agents considered it to be wrong. Therefore, in a bid to justify themselves, they introduced arguments to counter the anti- slave trade attacks. For instance, they argued that slavery was allowed in the Holy Bible, and hence, it was not a sin. However, an in-depth study of the holy book revealed the contrary. ^[g]They also stated that the servants ^[h]were treated well on the plantations, and they preferred Europe to Africa, but this was a lie ^[i]because they were mishandled^[j], beaten and their rights abused hence proving the Europeans wrong 

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