In search of a 'crude fancy of childhood': deconstructing mercantilism

Jerome Blanc and Ludovic Desmedt ()
Additional contact information
Ludovic Desmedt: LEG - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion - UB - Université de Bourgogne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This paper argues against the unity of 'mercantilism', refuting a rational reconstruction that underestimates both the diversity of early modern European economists and their writings, and the depth of their analyses. Beginning with a brief examination of the origins of 'mercantilism' and the evolution of perceptions of it, we examine the various readings proposed of 'mercantilist' writings (classical 'reconstruction', the German historical school and then contemporary work). The 'deconstruction' undertaken here does not aim to demonstrate that pre-classical writings were devoid of any conceptualisation or internal coherence. However, contemporary readers must make some effort to grasp the concepts used and engage with the proposals made. To this end it might be useful to propose an initial classification of authors based on their social position. The paper identifies different categories of writers and proposes new combinations of authors, reflecting the range of economic, and especially monetary, thinking of the period, with reference to the position of those authors relative to the spheres of government in Europe. This categorisation takes account of the social position of the authors, so as to identify any implications it might have for their concerns and their proposals. We first identify three categories of writers who are generally outside those spheres (late scholastics, economic philosophers and pamphleteers); then two categories of 'insiders' (officers of the mint and treasury administrators). The closeness of authors to the regime significantly influenced their writings.

Keywords: Mercantilism. Economic doctrines. Histoire of economic thought; Mercantilisme. Doctrines économiques. Histoire de la pensée économique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00993954v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2014, 38 (3), pp.585-604. ⟨10.1093/cje/bes081⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00993954v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: In search of a ‘crude fancy of childhood’: deconstructing mercantilism (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00993954

DOI: 10.1093/cje/bes081

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().