Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and Its Empire ed. by Philip J. Stern and Carl Wennerlind (review)

Reviewed by: Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and Its Empire ed. by Philip J. Stern and Carl Wennerlind Andrew Gaiero Stern, Philip J. and Carl Wennerlind (eds.), Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and Its Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. 416. Mercantilism Reimagined is a masterfully written book that features a number of prominent scholars of early modern history. Editors Philip Stern and Carl Wennerlind, who also contribute specific chapters, have done a fantastic job in challenging our understanding of the concept of mercantilism, or the “mercantile system”. Through this broad framework each chapter serves to explore the most recent scholarship about the composite parts of the early modern political economy and its subsequent construction and reconstruction by economic theorists and historians since the time of Adam Smith. Stern and Wennerlind have achieved multiple objectives in their study and aspects of their approach appeal to both inductive and deductive reasoning, though favouring the former overall. Building on trends over the past couple decades, within intellectual and new imperial history, and considering the financial precariousness of the world at present, this book provides readers with an appreciation for treatises on commerce and society whose relevance endures beyond their own time. However, considering the level of engagement with the source material, Mercantilism Reimagined will likely be best valued by scholars or students who are familiar with commercial and political theorists from the late Renaissance through to the works of Adam Smith and with the emergence of classical economics. A careful and thoughtful reading of each chapter is absolutely essential in order to truly appreciate all the nuances and great level of detail each author offers of his or her specific analysis of mercantilist thought. The five thematic sections: circulation; knowledge; institutions; regulation; and conflict address crucial aspects of the many commercial and intellectual debates of the early modern period, providing useful insights even beyond their immediate contexts. Circulation deals with traditional features of mercantilism, namely the debates over population and the centrality of money, whether precious metals or emerging consumer credit. Notably, the chapter on labour by Abigail Swingen helps link scholarship on slavery with broader discussions of managing population growth, migrations, and employment in the Atlantic world. Knowledge addresses the historiographical construction of mercantilism and its descriptive inadequacy, as is illustrated with Stuart attempts to regulate the fledgling tobacco industry or when imprecisely associated with German cameralism. Institutions involves the major official and unofficial components of [End Page 833] mercantile and imperial networks. On one hand monopoly trading corporations and the Anglican Church, among other religious associations, were reflective of one set of values and identities while the supposedly unsavory pirates and smugglers served to subvert sanctioned networks and projections of power. Regulation considers the practical limitations of political involvement in the economy and in the ability of rulers to effectively control their territories. Regina Grafe’s chapter on the Spanish Empire specifically addressed important revisions in our understanding of early modern absolute rule; while more broadly, issues of political corruption and the changing demands of consumer societies revealed the interplay between the governed and governing classes. Conflict focuses on the struggles for commercial supremacy between competing individual, corporate, and national entities. In a world of finite resources and scarcity the enduring “jealousy of trade” would precipitate real battles of life and death, serving as reflections of the sunrises and sunsets of early modern empires on the high seas. However, competing cornucopian visions of shared power and plenty were evident as well, though perhaps much less appreciated in a pre-Smithian world. Victor Enthoven’s chapter on Anglo-Dutch rivalries best exemplifies the envy and admiration accompanying these two different perspectives. Though the obvious counterpoint to the win-lose paradigm is visible, in the neutrality debate, and peace was recognized as a harbinger of prosperity, there were seldom guarantees of safety and stability given such a complex geopolitical situation where shifting alliances, depravity, and desires could coalesce into an overwhelming force with the potential to wash away any pretense to morality. The suggestion that we still live in an era of mercantilism is an interesting assertion, as questions of trade balances, protectionism, monopolies...

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