mercantilism
Mercantilism, also called "commercialism,” is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports and increasing stores of gold and precious metals. It is often considered an outdated system.
The noun mercantilism came from the Latin mercāns, or "buyer." It was a system that encouraged the idea of government trade regulation to gain wealth, a move away from agriculture system as an economic base. Although largely rejected today, it was the main school of economic thought from the 15th through the 18th Centuries, and was the push behind much of the exploration and colonization of other lands — and many of the wars — that happened during that time.
Definitions of mercantilism
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an economic system (Europe in 18th century) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interestssynonyms: mercantile systemtype of:managed economya non-market economy in which government intervention is important in allocating goods and resources and determining prices
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transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services)synonyms: commerce, commercialismtypes:tradingbuying or selling securities or commoditiestradethe commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and servicese-commercecommerce conducted electronically (as on the internet)exchange, interchangereciprocal transfer of equivalent sums of money (especially the currencies of different countries)IPO, initial offering, initial public offeringa corporation's first offer to sell stock to the publicbusiness, business enterprise, commercial enterprisethe activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspectscarriage tradetrade from upper-class customersimportation, importingthe commercial activity of buying and bringing in goods from a foreign countrymarketingthe commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or servicedistributionthe commercial activity of transporting and selling goods from a producer to a consumertrafficbuying and selling; especially illicit tradebond trading, bond-trading activitytrading in bonds (usually by a broker on the floor of an exchange)program tradinga trading technique involving large blocks of stock with trades triggered by computer programsshort sale, short sellingsale of securities or commodity futures not owned by the seller (who hopes to buy them back later at a lower price)short coveringthe purchase of securities or commodities by a short seller to close out a short saleinsider tradingbuying or selling corporate stock by a corporate officer or other insider on the basis of information that has not been made public and is supposed to remain confidentialbait and switcha deceptive way of selling that involves advertising a product at a very low price in order to attract customers who are then persuaded to switch to a more expensive productprivate treatya sale of property at a price agreed on by the seller and buyer without an intervening agencybootleggingthe act of making or transporting alcoholic liquor for sale illegallybootleggingthe act of selling illegally or without permissionfishingthe occupation of catching fish for a livingtax evasionthe deliberate failure to pay taxes (usually by making a false report)storagethe commercial enterprise of storing goods and materialsfair tradetrade that is conducted legallyfair tradetrade that satisfies certain criteria on the supply chain of the goods involved, usually including fair payment for producers; often with other social and environmental considerationsfree tradeinternational trade free of government interferenceconversionact of exchanging one type of money or security for anotheremployee-owned business, employee-owned enterprisea commercial enterprise owned by the people who work for itfinancethe commercial activity of providing funds and capitaldiscount businessthe business of selling merchandise at a discountreal-estate businessthe business of selling real estateprintingthe business of producing printed material for sale or distributionpackagingthe business of packingbuilding, constructionthe commercial activity involved in repairing old structures or constructing new onessmugglingsecretly importing prohibited goods or goods on which duty is duedirect marketingmarketing via a promotion delivered directly to the individual prospective customerchannel, distribution channela way of selling a company's product either directly or via distributorsslave trade, slave traffictraffic in slaves; especially in Black Africans transported to America in the 16th to 19th centuriesretailthe selling of goods to consumers; usually in small quantities and not for resalewholesalethe selling of goods to merchants; usually in large quantities for resale to consumerssalea particular instance of sellingsyndicationselling (an article or cartoon) for publication in many magazines or newspapers at the same timedumpingselling goods abroad at a price below that charged in the domestic marketdutch auctiona method of selling in which the price is reduced until a buyer is foundretailingthe activities involved in selling commodities directly to consumerstelecommerce, telemarketing, telesellingthe use of the telephone as an interactive medium for promotion and salesventurea commercial undertaking that risks a loss but promises a profitresalethe selling of something purchasedsalethe general activity of sellingfee splittingpayment (usually by doctors or lawyers) of part of the fee in return for the referraloverpaymentthe act of paying too muchprepaymentmoney given in advance for a good or serviceransompayment for the release of someoneremunerationthe act of paying for goods or services or to recompense for lossesrenderinggiving in acknowledgment of obligationtributepayment by one nation for protection by anotherunderpaymentthe act of paying less than requiredforeign exchangethe system by which one currency is exchanged for another; enables international transactions to take placetype of:dealing, dealings, transactionthe act of transacting within or between groups (as carrying on commercial activities)
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