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The primary concern of Mercantilism was to maximise exports and minimise imports.. I disagree. Rather, I think this is a common but bad reduction. Mercantilism
by netcan 5y ago
The primary concern of Mercantilism was to maximise exports and minimise imports..
I disagree. Rather, I think this is a common but bad reduction. Mercantilism as Smith described it isn't just protectionism. Protectionism is just a feature. There are as many parallels between modern globalisation and mercantilism as there are with 20th century protectionist economic regimes or schools of thought.
Modern conservative economic rhetoric worries about trade balances and the debt. The first is explicitly a mercantilist trait. The latter is arguably one, considering that public debt is the basis of our money like gold was in Smith's day.
- simonh 5y agoMany on both the left and the right fret about trade balances, and much of the concern about debt is performative. A glance at a graph of public debt in the USA alongside presidential terms is illuminating. Of course there is protectionism and there are subsidies in the modern economic landscape. All the political parties in every country have their special interests and exceptions. Globalisation is the general trend towards reducing and eventually eliminating these through institutions like the WTO and treaties or associations such as NAFTA/USMCA and the European Union.