to establish his own theory in Wealth of Nations.24 Despite the criticism, many
scholars accept Smith's notion of mercantilism as an implicit economic thought
in the early modern world. Immanuel Wallerstein in The Modern World-System
II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600
1750 provides the definition: 'Mercantilism involved state policies of economic
nationalism and revolved around a concern with the circulation of commodities,
whether in terms of the movement of bullion or in the creation of balances of
trade (bilateral or multilateral).25
In addition, the idea of the world economy as a zero-sum game, in which im
ports from other countries should be limited and exports maximized to accu
mulate bullion (gold and silver) is considered a central tenet of mercantilism.26
Especially the second period in mercantilism, 'balance of trade' as introduced by
Thomas Mun, may be relevant in our understanding of 18th century long-distance
trading objectives. The late mercantilist idea of 'balance of trade' emphasized the
importance of exporting expensive manufactured goods and importing cheap
raw resources to maximize the positive trade balance of the nation. In the earlier
'bullionist' period, the economic focus was on maximizing the nation's possession
of gold and silver.27 Mercantilism can provide a framework to interpret the results
of the analysis of the MCC bookkeeping.
Reinders Folmer-van Prooijen indicates that in 1752 the MCC suffered its big
gest financial losses on its profit and loss ledger account (grootboekrekening). This
is a year in which the MCC had been firmly established as a company, but suppos
edly had not made a total net profit during its 32 years of existence. Other years
could serve as a case to study the bookkeeping in a formal sense, but its context of
heavy financial losses makes this year an interesting choice regarding the debate
on profitability of the MCC.28 Ruud Paesie argues that the MCC 'unlike the VOC'
Koen van der Blij
173
24 Philip J. Stern and Carl Wennerlind, Introduction. In: Philip Stern and Carl Wennerlind (eds.),
Mercantilism Reimagined: Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and its Empire. Oxford,
2013, 328-347.
25 Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of
the European World-Economy, 1600-1750. Berkeley, 2011, 37.
26 Steve Pincus, Rethinking Mercantilism: Political Economy, the British Empire, and the Atlantic
World in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. In: The William and Mary Quarterly, 69
(2012), 3-34, 14.
27 Gianni Vaggi and Peter Groenewegen, A Concise History of Economic Thought: From Mercanti
lism to Monetarism. New York, 2003, 16-19.
28 Reinders Folmer-Van Prooijen, Van goederenhandel naar slavenhandel, 156.
