Word: mercantilistic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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These ideas were well to the left of the 18th century's mercantilist doctrine, which held that trade should be strictly regulated in order to pile up gold and silver in national treasuries. The ideas also ran counter to the strong feelings among upper-level society that "opulence" for the "lower ranks" would be very dangerous. Smith's revolutionary concepts took some time to catch on. But The Wealth of Nations was read by all the leading intellects of the time and praised by many, including Smith's friends David Hume and Edmund Burke. By the early 19th century, Smith...
Nations would then be tempted to take unilateral action to get the funds they need to pay OPEC. Through subsidies and dumping, nations would drive all-out to increase their exports; meanwhile, through stiffer tariffs and quotas, they would wall out imports. Such a mercantilist policy could lead to a tragic rerun of the 1930s, when most of the industrial nations were intensively trying to "beggar their neighbor." The result was a disastrous contraction of world trade and paralysis of the international monetary system. Thus the answer to the crisis created by high oil prices, conclude Simon and Kissinger...
...lift exports as much as had been expected and the nation's surging economy attracted more and costlier imports. To prevent a repeat, the U.S. is demanding that Japan and the European Common Market nations buy more and sell less in America. President Nixon is making protectionist mercantilist threats about what he may do if they balk...