ABSTRACT
Proof that paying-for-imports has frequently nothing to do with national export drives is delivered by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. In the era between the old mercantilism and the new mercantilism most leading economists wrote little about international trade and saw no intrinsic merit in exporting. Just as regions within a national economy specialised in the production of different types of merchandise, so English apples were exchanged for Spanish oranges. Adam Smith denied that international trade was fundamentally different from the exchange of goods within a domestic economy. The old and new mercantilists have the do not highlight the Free Trade advantages flowing from two-way international traffic in goods and services. In the course of time, however, the members of the OPEC cartel learned how to spend all of their export earnings on merchandise and services.
