Anti-Monopoly,Mercantilism and the English Revolut...
LI Xinkuan
Shanghai Normal University
In the late Tudor and early Stuart period there had been continuing activities against monopolies and calls for free trade in England.What was the significance of these activities?T.B.Nachbar noted that the power of granting the exclusive trade privileges had been delivered from the hand of the King to the Parliament after the Glorious Revolution in England.The Parliamentary state still used the chartered companies in much the same way as the royal state did,namely as objects of revenue,but even at the post-revolutionary height of Parliamentary power,exclusive trade privileges were not as pervasive as they had been under the Tudors and the early Stuarts.Why?T.B.Nachbar believes the answer lies in rent-seeking theory,arguing that political rent-seeking is more efficient when there are a small number of regulators(like a monarch or the small Privy Council)than a large one(like rule by Parliament).Consequently,as power transited to a more populous body,there was a decline in the use of government trade privileges as a form of direct rent-seeking by merchants and manufacturers.[1]In other words,parliamentary rule was not suitable for rent-seeking.Such an interpretation would be far-fetched.In fact,the logic behind this phenomenon can be explained if T.B.Nachbar referred back to the mercantilist background.Implementation of mercantilist policies in the Tudor and the early Stuart dynasties bred a section of new market forces.These market forces,dissatisfied with the licensing trade policy of the crown and the vested interest groups,asked for the abolition of the chartered trade.When the market was constantly expanding,and these demands were not met,the issue concerning the right of levying tax between the King and Parliament was to be turned into a national political struggle.This was one of the reasons for the occurrence of the English revolution.The mercantilist policy was bound to shift,from the comprehensive and in-depth controlling of economic life in the Tudors and the early Stuarts to the eventual disappearance.