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Article: Mercantilism revisited: the dismal science.
- Article from:
- The New Leader
- Article date:
- October 7, 1985
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 American Labor Conference on International Affairs. 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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I have been happily working anyway through Fernand Braudel's tangled, lumpy, unmade-bed of a book whose three volumes have the overall title Civilization and Capitalism: 15th-18th Century. About halfway into the second volume Braudel makes some observations about mercantilism, and they have given me furiously to think.
Every American boy or girl who paid even the slightest attention in school knows that mercantilism was a bad idea. It bled the colonies for the benefit of the homeland, and consequently the colonies revolted. Those who listened a little longer also know that the mercantilist striving for a "favorable" balance of trade meant exportation of goods ...