ABSTRACT
In conclusion, the analysis above enables us to corroborate a thesis which has been already supported by many of the best specialist studies on mercantilism but which have not yet gained wide currency among scholars: the mercantilist concept of international trade perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the national economies. It was connected to the desire to increase domestic production. At first, growth in production was seen not just as an end in itself, but also – and often predominantly – as a means of increasing exports. However, from the end of the 1600s the relationship between production and foreign trade was being reversed: the latter was becoming simply a means of expanding production.
