Mercantalism

Mercantalism

Definitions

Mercantilism

It is an age old concept that belongs to the sixteenth century and it is a narrow concept in the way it argued that the prosperity of a nation is estimated based on the possession of gold and silver by a company. They employed the simple logic that if other nations buy more goods from a particular nation, then it also buys more from them. The wealth acquired is used for improving the military infrastructure and extend the nation’s influence over other nations (Mahoney et al. 1998). Still mercantilism has not been completely ruled out as unfitting. The debatable facts on mercantilism are as follows.

 

Demerits

Mercantilism should only be seen as an aspiration to upgrade production. It was only due to the complete reversal of the relationship between manufacture and international trade mercantilism lost its charm. It was not an irrational inaccuracy or a hypothetical blunder but, people or nations simply adopted the theory because it best suited the simple requirements of the time. The theory also points out an important logic in international trade. If a nation sells products of partial or unskilled labour, and buys highly processed goods it may not benefit the nation in the long run though it may be instantly beneficial to the nation (Perotta 1991)

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