Mercantilism

Mercantilism Mercantilism is the economic policy that prevailed in Western Europe from the 16th century through the 18th century. It is based on the theory that exporting goods was preferable to importing them and would help to accumulate wealth in the form of gold and silver. In its most extreme form it made wealth and money identical and made the goal of the state so to conduct its dealings with other nations as to attract to itself the largest possible share of the precious metals. Although mercantilism was the dominant economic concept in England, Spain, Portugal, Prussia, and the major parts of Italy and in the Russia of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, it found its major standard bearer in France. There, Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), Louis XIV's minister of finance and secretary of the navy, unified the customs, drafted commercial and maritime codes, and wrote extensive codes for the luxury industries. There were also hundreds of instructions implemented on the rules of production.