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DREAMS OF ORDER AND FREEDOM: DEBATING TRADE MANAGEMENT IN EARLY SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak
Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak*
Affiliation:
Cedeplar-UFMG.
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Abstract

The early 1620s trade crisis had a significant influence on the way public opinion in England regarded economic issues, and the pamphlets written during that period convey the impression that the supply of money was the undisputed primary concern of economic policy. However, monetary matters occupied a prominent position in the political agenda of England only during times of crisis, when the kingdom faced a perceived threat of demonetization. The paper argues that, during the first two decades of the seventeenth century, concern with a positive balance of trade was of only secondary importance, being normally overshadowed by a more fundamental goal: a well-ordered, stable, and properly managed trade. This opened the door for debates about the limits of free initiative and regulation in economic affairs, as evidenced most clearly by the debates about free trade and monopolies that permeated James I’s reign.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 401 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2018 

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Footnotes

Preliminary versions of this paper were presented at the History of Economics Society Annual Meetings (St. Catharines, 2012), the ANPEC Annual Meetings (Porto de Galinhas, 2012), the Graduate Economics Seminar at UFU (2012), the Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Economics Seminar at the London School of Economics (2013), and the Economic History and Development Seminar at Unifal (2013). The author is thankful for the comments received from participants at these events, especially Simon Healy, Wolfgang Lenk, Patrick Wallis, Luiz Felipe Bruzzi Curi, and Stephen Meardon. Two anonymous referees from JHET have also been extremely helpful towards improving the manuscript. The author would finally like to thank FAPEMIG, CNPq, and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais for their financial support.

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