The Neomercantilists: A Global Intellectual History

by Eric Helleiner

At a time when critiques of free trade policies are gaining currency, The Neomercantilists helps make sense of the protectionist turn, providing the first intellectual history of the genealogy of neomercantilism. Eric Helleiner identifies many pioneers of this ideology between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries who backed strategic protectionism and other forms of government economic activism to promote state wealth and power. They included not just the famous Friedrich List, but also numerous lesser-known thinkers, many of whom came from outside of the West. Helleiner's novel emphasis on neomercantilism's diverse origins challenges traditional Western-centric understandings of its history. It illuminates neglected local intellectual traditions and international flows of ideas that gave rise to distinctive varieties of the ideology around the globe, including in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. This rich history left enduring intellectual legacies, including in the two dominant powers of the contemporary world China and the United States. The result is an exceptional study of a set of profoundly influential economic ideas. While rooted in the past, it sheds light on the present moment. The Neomercantilists shows how we might construct more global approaches to the study of international political economy and intellectual history, devoting attention to thinkers from across the world, and to the cross-border circulation of thought.

Genres: History, Economics, Nonfiction, Politics

414 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2021

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2020 and onwards I spent a bunch of time reading List's work and some other texts related to him, as I realized how neglected his viewpoints on political economy were, at least in the American context in the pre-Trump aughts and 2010s. This text, then, has been a very welcome read. The author provided just the right level of nuance when defining "neomercantalist" as well as actually delving into each thinker's overall ideologies, without being reductive or simplistic or injecting his own opinion into the text.

The particular emphasis on non-Listian neomercantalists and the frequency in which neomercantalism was reinvented endogenously in places like Asia and in the Latin American/Spanish worlds was really well done and I've not seen such a thorough addressing of this subject elsewhere (not that I'm a scholar on this, either...).

Overall, a thorough intellectual history and survey of the past few centuries of economic history specifically through the lens of neomercantalist occurrences. Lots of fun historical tid-bits. Highly recommend, if that sounds like your cup of tea.

[sube · Rating 3 out of 5]

What it says in the subtitle: an intellectual history, unconnected from the social contexts and governmental practises it was connected to, which disappointed me. Nonetheless it was informative on List & Carey, but also the endogenous origins of 'neomercantilism' (mercantilism in response to Smith), which is often ignored. However, it was interesting how often the advocates of opening up economies to capitalism were mercantilists /statists, while opponents were often supporters of econonomic liberalism or balanced budgets, which is regularly noted in the context of East Asia specifically. It also discusses the diversity of mercantilism, which is very interesting to see.

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intellectual history, as the subtitle suggests. Readers may find the stakes (the legacy of Friedrich List as the prototypical neomercantilist) underwhelming. The author's attempts to tie the narrative to more contemporary matters (e.g., Trump vs. China) seem half-hearted. That's totally fine, as long as the reader sets their expectations appropriately. If you want to read something more "contemporary," check out Lighthizer's book I guess.

[David Sogge · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 19th and early 20th century, many economists and pundits thought it a good idea that governments should curb free trade and intervene to promote and protect national economic sectors. This book revisits advocates of this ideology, neomercantilism. The author, a leading historian of international political economy, discusses the ideology acrossa wide spectrum. The topic is timely and important. After all, neomercantilism has been highly successful, certainly in the history of today’s leading industrial economies, the USA and China. Yet in recent decades the idea has gone missing in action, having been blasted by intellectual artillery wheeled out behalf of globalizing forces.
Of special value are this book's re-assessments of a variety of neomercantilist arguments, putting spotlights on those that made real headway. The author shows why the influence of 19th century German economist Friedrich List has been exaggerated relative to that of the American economist Henry Carey, a chief advisor to President Lincoln. Yet more revealing are chapters on national intellectuals who influenced debates in Japan, China, Russia, Canada, and even Egypt and Ethiopia. These chapters de-Europeanize the conventional frame.

The author concentrates on what was published in books and articles. Hence the book's subtitle, A Global Intellectual History. Whereas the political arts of promoting ideas through interest groups such as associations of manufacturers, weapons makers and military chieftains, are mentioned largely in passing, despite their primacy in these marketplaces or battlegrounds of ideas. Also underplayed are the channels and mechanisms that served to spread or deflect these ideas, notably powerful media such as The Economist. But even without any political sociology, this book offers insightful points of departure, including a substantial list of references, for further exploration.

Today, economic nationalists have wind in their sails and ‘globalisers’ are on the defensive. The Harvard economist Dani Rodrik detects a "major reorientation in economic policy – one that is rooted in production, work, and localism instead of finance, consumerism, and globalism." Given such shifts, neomercantilism is anything but a quaint museum piece to be dusted off in a history book.