1. Aim: What are the principles of mercantilism
Aim: What are the principles of mercantilism? Who were the winners and losers in the European mercantilist economy?

2. Winners
Accumulation of capital first through plunder, then “super-exploitation” of labor
America is where Europe “invents” modern capitalism – large-scale combination of capital and labor
Who gets it? Kings; merchants, bankers, capitalists – new classes are empowered.

3. Losers Slaves – plantation agriculture
Native Americans – encomiendas and mining
Women – increased exclusion from “paid” work
European farmers, peasants, craftsmen – WHY?

4. Why were European workers “losers?”
Agricultural improvements from the Islamic world and Columbian Exchange had lifted productivity and therefore population
More workers (supply) = lower wages
Price inflation due to increased money supply (gold & silver from Americas)

5. Mercantilist Theory
European economists believed that for every economic winner there had to be an economic loser
Each nation was in a competition with other nations
National economic interests had to be protected as fiercely as political interests