Pros and Cons of Mercantilism

1. Define the terms “mercantilism and the Navigation Laws,” then explain to what extent these policies led to

So first off, let's talk about Mercantilism. What is bad about it you may ask? Well lets see from a coloniest point of view. So the mother country gets rich, as the colonies do not. The colonists must sell basically all of their raw materials to the mother country for whatever price the Mother country decides (a cheap price). They must buy manufactured goods from the Mother country (at a high prices) so do you see what I mean.

14. Give a good working definition of the practice of “mercantilism”. Mercantilism is economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances,

One of these ideals was mercantilism, which was

Key Terms and People mercantilism Mercantilism is a theory that states that a country grows to be strong and important through money that comes from a favorable balance of trade, meaning that a country must export more goods than it imports. Mercantilism kept England powerful, as the colonies provided raw goods that were used to make ships for the navy. Also, the raw goods were used to make products that were sold to other countries. England also had no cause to buy certain products from other countries. It was able to export more products than it imported, keeping the county wealthy and powerful.

Mercantilism operated in the colonies. Mercantilism is the belief that the colonies existed to gain wealth for the mother country. England regulated trade by forbidding the colonies to trade with each other or other European countries. England took control over major port cities along the east coast and as a result, they were able to reduce the number of ships that traveled to other colonies and countries for trade. Because of this, the colonies saw a decrease in exported goods due to the British blockages. Also, England’s naval force was so powerful that other nations became intimidated by them and they stopped exporting goods to the colonies. As a result, inexpensive imports because rare and very expensive. The main purpose of this strategy was to benefit the British economy. Between 1651and 1673, the Parliament established four Navigation Acts and they were meant to ensure proper mercantilism trade balance. These acts established that only English ships could carry cargo to colonial ports, goods such as tobacco and rice could only be shipped to England and Scotland, the Parliament would pay bounties to colonists who made certain goods and raising the price of those goods in other nations, and colonists could not compete with English manufacturers. This was also an unsuccessful strategy because colonists disagreed and they went ahead and secretly began

The purpose of the mercantilists were not the same as those of modern economists. Mercantilists were concerned with increasing the power of their own respective nations relative to that of other nations. Their goal was not the allocation of scarce resources in a way that would maximize the standard of living of the people at large. (p. 599)

One huge figure that driven to the colonists’ discontent is Mercantilism. Mercantilism was the thought that colonies were an vital source of crude materials. A parcel of the crude materials were taken from America and sent to Britain to offer assistance the mother nation fabricate products to exchange with other nations. It was thought that by expanding trades and collecting valuable metals in return, that it would progress the national riches and control.

Mercantilism is a theory that wealth is power. This theory states that a country’s wealth, and therefore its power, can be

Starting in 1500, a new world capitalist system was emerging in Europe. It was a start of a new age, an age of discovery. Spain was looking for the Northwest Passage, a route linking Europe to Asia through North America by sea. Every country was profit and trade driven and along with this new age discovery was a new capitalist system called Mercantilism, which is a system based upon a state to advance national business interests abroad and is increased

Some may argue that the greed, power, land are the motives for a country to undertake a maritime program. Others may say that religion, commerce, trade are other possible motives that leads to a maritime program. The Kingdom of Spain & Portugal and the Ming Empire both took their grand maritime programs in the 15th & 16th centuries. When examining the societies of the Spanish/ Portuguese and the Chinese during the 15th and 16th centuries, one may say that both are trying to reach a common end goal of wanting their society to flourish at any means necessary.Although the two societies shared a few common interests to reach that common end goal(s), the difference in their motives did outweigh the few similarities they had between one another

Mercantilism Mercantilism is the economic theory that a nation's prosperity depends on its supply of gold and silver; that the total volume of trade is unchangeable. 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. Spain and England used the mercantile system to benefit the mother countries. The mercantile system had special regulations, which usually extracted some sort of reaction from the colonies. If necessary, the policies would be changed to better suit the mother country.

Mercantilism was an economic system that developed in Europe between the 16th and 18th century during the period of the new monarchies. This economic philosophy is based on the belief that a nation’s wealth depends on accumulated treasure, usually precious metals such as gold and silver, and to increase wealth, government policies should promote exports and discourage imports. Adam Smith, an eighteenth-century Scots professor of moral philosophy who influenced the founding fathers of

. At the expense of the English colonies, the employment of mercantilist policies permitted the British Empire to prosper in wealth and power.

Mercantilism was a sixteenth-century economic philosophy that maintained that a country's wealth was measured by its holdings of gold and silver (Mahoney, Trigg, Griffin, & Pustay, 1998). This recquired the countries to maximise the difference between its exports and imports by promoting exports and discouraging imports. The logic was transparent to sixteenth-century policy makers-if foreigners buy more goods from you than you buy from them, then the foreigners have to pay you the difference in gold and silver, enabling you to amass more treasure. With the treasure acquired the realm could build greater armies and navies and hence expand the nation’s global influence.