22 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
22 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-19 source=book-4-chapter-01 -->
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# Commercial or Mercantile System
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## Definition
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An economic doctrine that equates national wealth with the accumulation of precious metals, particularly gold and silver, through promoting exports over imports and restricting foreign trade. This system treats international commerce as a zero-sum game where one nation's gain is another's loss, advocating for policies that maximize the inflow of bullion while minimizing its outflow.
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## Source Chapter
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Book IV, Chapter 1
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## Context
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This chapter introduces and critiques the mercantile system as the dominant economic ideology of Smith's time. Smith identifies it as the "popular notion" that wealth consists in money or precious metals, and traces its origins to the dual function of money as both medium of exchange and measure of value. The chapter sets up the fundamental contrast between this system and the natural liberty Smith will later advocate.
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## Economic Domain
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Regulation
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---
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