Exercises on Mercantilism

(FGV) Mercantilism corresponded to:

a) a set of economic practices and ideas based on protectionist principles.

b) an economic theory that defends free trade practices between different countries.

c) a 17th century movement that advocated the commodification of African slaves.

d) an economic doctrine that defends the non-intervention of the State in the economy.

e) an economic policy, specifically Iberian, of defense of its colonial interests.

(UFV) Mercantilism is a term created by German economists in the second half of the 19th century to describe the set of economic practices of European states in the 16th and 17th centuries. From the alternatives below, mark the one that does NOT indicate a characteristic of mercantilism.

a) Search for a favorable trade balance, that is, the accounting overrun of imports by exports.

b) State interventionism in economic practices, through strict monopoly and fiscal policies.

c) Belief that the accumulation of precious metals was the main form of enrichment of the States.

d) Application of surplus capital in other countries to increase the supply of raw materials needed for industrialization.

e) Exploitation of domains located on other continents, with the aim of complementing the metropolitan economy.

The economic practice of mercantilism developed in particular ways in various regions of Europe. Dutch mercantilism was characterized by:

a) have no interest in raw materials from other continents.

b) not having tried to colonize other continents.

c) be a mixture of commercial, financial and industrial activities.

d) have a not very significant importance from a financial point of view, since there were no banks in the Netherlands.

e) being very important to Spain, since Holland was a great trading partner of the Spaniards at that time.

In the context of mercantilism, what did the Colonial Exclusive mean?

a) meant the determination that the metropolis could not intervene in what was produced in the Colony.

b) meant that commercial practices could only be effectively exercised in the Colonies' domains.

c) meant that raw material exploitation practices could not exceed the limits of a small amount per week.

d) meant the determination that what was produced in the Colony could only meet the consumption of those who lived in it.

e) meant the determination that what was produced in the Colony could only be exploited by the metropolis that had dominion over it.

Letter A

The economic practice of mercantilism, developed in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries, had as its main strategies, which were articulated by protectionist principles in relation to national wealth:to improve manufacturing production, to promote trade and accumulate metals. These measures aimed at achieving a favorable trade balance, enriching the State and strengthening the monarchy.

Letter D

The mercantile system did not apply surplus capital in other countries, but exploited the raw materials of the colonies. Furthermore, industrialization only really intensified in the mid-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the capitalist system had already overcome mercantilism and, in the political sphere, when monarchical absolutism had already entered into crisis after the bourgeois revolutions.

Letter C

The Netherlands was one of the main mercantilist powers of modern Europe, having been forcefully inserted in the dispute for raw materials and the consumer market. Dutch mercantilism was characterized by the combination of elements properly related to trade, high investment in the processing of raw materials in various sectors - thus marking a patent industrial development - and the integration of these two activities with its financial system, that is, their banking organizations and their cash flow.

Letter E

The colonial exclusive was the way that the metropolises developed to prevent that their exploration domains could suffer commercial attacks from other nations. This practice ensured the policy of economic protectionism.