3 In addition, we will see that Locke’s mercantilist view that international trade is a zero-sum game contravenes his own general recognition of the positive-sum character of all voluntary economic exchange.’ But he was not a mercantilist in the sense of taking a nation’s wealth to consist in the magnitude of its stock of silver and good. Locke was a mercantilist in the sense of favoring an excess of exports of consumable commodities over imports of consumable commodities. Rather, the wealth of a nation consists in the amount of the conveniences that are enjoyed by its inhabitants. My suggestion is that the first group of passages show that Locke subscribed to the view that exports of consumable goods should exceed imports while the second group of passages show that Locke subscribed to the view that ultimately the riches of a nation does not consist in its stock of silver or gold.
Let’s look at some passages from “Some Considerations” that most support the claim that Locke was a mercantilist and then some passages in which Locke seems to distance himself from mercantilism. But he was not a mercantilist in the sense of taking a nation’s wealth to consist in the magnitude of its stock of silver and good.” “Locke was a mercantilist in the sense of favoring an excess of exports of consumable commodities over imports of consumable commodities.
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