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# Commercial Country Ruin Predictions

## Definition

The frequent forecasts of economic collapse made by proponents of mercantile theory regarding countries that engage in free trade or run trade deficits, predictions that Smith argues have consistently proven false as open trading nations have grown wealthy rather than impoverished.

## Source Chapter

Book IV, Chapter 3

## Context

Smith points out that despite constant warnings about ruin from unfavourable trade balances, no European country has been impoverished by this cause, while those that have opened their ports have been enriched.

## Economic Domain

General Theory

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