ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -History of Mercantilism. First seen in Europe during the 1500s, mercantilism was based on the idea that a nation’s wealth and power were best served by increasing exports and limiting imports. Mercantilism replaced the feudal economic system in Western Europe.

Detailed explanation-2: -Colonial mercantilism, a set of protectionist policies designed to benefit the colonizing nation, relied on several factors: Colonies rich in raw materials. Cheap labor.

Detailed explanation-3: -This system dominated Western European economic thought and policies from the sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. The goal of these policies was, supposedly, to achieve a “favorable” balance of trade that would bring gold and silver into the country and also to maintain domestic employment.

Detailed explanation-4: -Which countries practiced mercantilism? The primary countries that employed mercantilism were of western Europe-France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Britain, as well as Germany and the Netherlands.