Mercantilism

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how, between the 16th and 18th centuries, Europe was dominated by an economic way of thinking called mercantilism. The key idea was that exports should be as high as possible and imports minimised.

For more than 300 years, almost every ruler and political thinker was a mercantilist. Eventually, economists including Adam Smith, in his ground-breaking work of 1776 The Wealth of Nations, declared that mercantilism was a flawed concept and it became discredited. However, a mercantilist economic approach can still be found in modern times and today’s politicians sometimes still use rhetoric related to mercantilism.

With

D’Maris Coffman Professor in Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at University College London Craig Muldrew Professor of Social and Economic History at the University of Cambridge and a Member of Queens’ College

and

Helen Paul, Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton.

Producer Luke Mulhall

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.5	There's a reading list to go with it on our website,
0:09.6	and you can get news about our programs
0:11.6	if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time. I hope you
0:15.2	enjoy the programs.
0:17.2	Hello between the 16th and 18th centuries Europe was dominated by an economic way of thinking called
0:22.8	mechanicalism. The key idea in mechanism is that exports should be as
0:27.5	high as possible and imports minimized. For more than 300 years
0:32.1	almost every ruler and political thinker was a
0:34.3	mechanicalist. Eventually Adam Smith in his groundbreaking work The Wealth of Nations
0:39.0	1776 and other economists declared that it was a flawed concept and it became
0:43.8	discredited. However a mechanicalist economic approach can still be found in
0:48.0	modern time and today's politicians sometimes still use rhetoric related to
0:51.9	mechanicalism. With me to discuss
0:54.3	mechanicalism are de Maris Kaufman, professor in economics and finance of the
0:59.3	built environment at University College London, Craig Muldru professor of social and economic history at the University College London, Craig Muldrew, Professor of Social and Economic
1:04.4	History at the University of Cambridge and a member of Queens College, and Helen Paul, lecturer
1:09.3	in economics and economic history at the University of Southampton.
1:13.0	Helen, in general, what type of policies that governments implement when they pursue
1:17.0	a cantalism?
1:18.0	They try to restrict trade, so they do all kinds of things to increase exports and to decrease imports and that could be
	...

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