Nation-World: Autarky and Geo-economics in Montchrétien’s Traicté

Journal title HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY
Author/s Rosario Patalano
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/2
Language English Pages 14 P. 85-98 File size 199 KB
DOI 10.3280/SPE2016-002006
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In his Traicté de l’oeconomie politique (1615), Antoine de Montchrétien proposed a model of development, based on an autarkic economy, formulating analytical and political alternative to increasing integration of world trade, which in the seventeenth century was under Dutch and English hegemony. Montchrétien’s response to the problem of world trade integration focused on the establishment of a French colonial empire, completely self-sufficient and closed to international trade. Montchrétien proposed an “economic nationalism” connecting politics and the economy, in a perspective that would be called geo-economic, pitting nationalism against globalization to avoid the failure in international trade competition that could threaten the political survival and independence of the country’s national interests. This paper explores the analytical frameworks of Montchrétien’s autarkic model, which constitutes an exception in the 17th century literature, which is focused on the idea of commercial supremacy and the gains of trade in a context of international competition.

Keywords: Antoine de Montchrétien, Geo-economics, autarkic economy, world trade in the 17th century.

Jel codes: B110, B310, F130, N100

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Rosario Patalano, Nation-World: Autarky and Geo-economics in Montchrétien’s Traicté in "HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY" 2/2016, pp 85-98, DOI: 10.3280/SPE2016-002006