Mercantilism and bureaucratic modernization in early eighteenth‐century France
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: French mercantilism is generally associated with absolutist policy‐making subject to capture by rent‐seeking interests. This article investigates how theBureau du Commerce, a small state agency in charge of commerce and the supply side, handed out rents and privileges to private entrepreneurs. We coded how theBureauinvestigated and decided all 267 voluntary submissions received between 1724 and 1744. It is shown that theBureau’s formal, rule‐based decision‐making process could actually differentiate between alternate policy aims and target them consistently over time, with more or less powerful sets of rents. From this, a hierarchy of revealed policy preferences is derived. First comes technical innovation and diffusion, then local economic development; import substitution is only in the third position, followed by consumers’ welfare. Lastly, and in contrast to a long line of authors, it is shown that the production of luxury goods was not a significant or valued objective.
Source: The Economic History Review
DOI: 10.1111/ehr.12284
Authors: Jean Beuve, Eric Brousseau, Jérôme Sgard
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1820835976