The Early Mercantilists: Thomas Mun (1571–1641), Edward Misselden (1608–1634) and Gerard de Malynes (1586–1623)

Pioneers in Economics

by Mark Blaug

The Mercantilist School never presented a common front but is associated with a common the idea of specie or bullion as the essence of wealth and the notion that a positive balance of trade is an index of national welfare. It is also associated with an emphasis on population growth and low wages, a concern with full employment and the far reaching denial of foreign trade as a source of net gain to the world as a whole; that is, international trade was regarded as a zero-sum gain and particular nations were thought to benefit from international trade only at the expense of others. The underlying idea that a permanent balance of trade surplus should be beneficial to a nation has been a source of discussion right down to the present day.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Mark Blaug is a British economist (naturalised in 1982), who has covered a broad range of topics over his long career. In 1955 he received his PhD from Columbia University in New York. Besides shorter periods in public service and in international organisations he has held academic appointments in - among others - Yale University, the University of London, the London School of Economics and the University of Buckingham. He currently lives in Leiden and works as Visiting Professor in the Netherlands, University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where he is also co-director of CHIMES (Center for History in Management and Economics).
Mark Blaug has made far reaching contributions to a range of topics in economic thought throughout his career. Apart from valuable contributions to the economics of art and the economics of education, he is best known for his work in history of economic thought and the methodology of economics.