Refers to the initial economic theory of the bourgeoisie during the transition from feudal system to capitalism in western and southern European countries at the end of the Middle Ages.

Its basic content is: wealth is money, and money is wealth; The direct source of wealth is the circulation field; Precious metals such as gold and silver are indispensable to a country's wealth. If it has no precious metals, it must be obtained through trade, and foreign trade must maintain a surplus.

Specifically, the theoretical viewpoints of the mercantilist school include the following points:

(1) International trade is the most important source of national wealth.

It is believed that in order to make profits in international trade, domestic products must be exported abroad in exchange for gold and silver (precious metals).

The principle of international trade is to sell more and buy less, so that precious metals (foreign exchange) can accumulate more in China and seek a trade surplus.

In order to achieve a surplus in international trade, it is necessary to export domestic manufactured goods and import foreign raw materials, and make use of the scissors difference between manufactured goods and raw materials to make profits.

The main share of the domestic market must be reserved for domestic industries. This is not only to protect our own industrial production capacity and cultivate new industries ("infant industries"), but also to provide sufficient employment opportunities for our own people.

The concept of new mercantilism

New mercantilism was first put forward by McKinnon, Krugman and others, who summarized the American foreign trade protectionist policies since 1970s. It was named because the policies it described were very similar to the mercantilism in the15th century. Of course, there are many differences between them.

First of all, the new mercantilism follows the analytical method in Keynes's General Theory, and holds that the trade surplus will have multiplier effect as well as investment and consumption. Therefore, in order to realize huge internal interests, the government deliberately creates surpluses. This is different from the purpose of mercantilism simply accumulating gold.

Furthermore, the new mercantilist protection measures are numerous and aggressive, and even developed into a series of exclusive trade protection groups.

Specifically, what Americans like most in trade protection is anti-dumping litigation, such as treating China's textiles; In addition, there are so-called green barriers and technical barriers (that is, protection in the name of environmental protection).

Summarize the characteristics of American new mercantilism with a classic sentence: there is the ideal of free trade, but the thinking mode of national interests may be the most important.

The representative countries of new mercantilism are China and South Korea. The policy of low exchange rate and high reserve adopted by East Asian countries to safeguard economic sovereignty and financial stability is called the new mercantilist policy of developing countries under the condition of economic and financial globalization. It is not only different from the old mercantilism, which takes gold reserves as the economic goal to expand military strength and open trade borders, but also different from the new trade protectionism policy of developed countries to strategically protect domestic industries, and it is also a development buffer policy based on financial fragility. This policy is not only a revision of the "structural" new mercantilist policy of developing countries, but also a suboptimal choice to safeguard economic sovereignty and financial stability on the premise of domestic welfare loss under the condition of financial globalization. It is a response to the operating rules of the asymmetric international monetary and financial system formulated by developed countries, which is economically reasonable and morally just. Because the economic development of developing countries is not only economic growth, but also the process of institutional evolution, the problem of financial fragility will run through the whole development process, which also determines that this policy should be implemented for a long time. This policy is suitable for countries with high savings tradition and long-term export-oriented policies.

To sum up, China can only be regarded as a new mercantilist country at best, not a mercantilist country.

Personal opinion, for reference only.