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Article: Freeing the market: by abandoning the regulations of mercantilism, England became an economic powerhouse. Both the industrialists and the great masses benefited.(History--Struggle For Freedom)
- Article from:
- The New American
- Article date:
- August 11, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 American Opinion Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Mercantilism was the economic system that dominated Western Europe from around 1500 to the time of the Industrial Revolution. It was a system of state control and national economic rivalry, which sought to accumulate precious bullion for the state through a politically planned economy involving taxation of imports, promotion of favored exports, and exploitation of colonies. Regulation was the byword of the day.
Like contemporary Marxism, mercantilism held "that there is an irreconcilable conflict of interests among men and groups of men," wrote Ludwig von Mises in Theory and History. "The gain of one is invariably the damage of others; no man profits but by the ...