Mercantilism and Economic Underdevelopment in Scotland, 1600–1783

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Philipp Robinson Rössner

Perspectives in Economic and Social History

Since the early seventeenth century, Scotland’s economy rested on a traditional ‘baseline’ of raw goods; cattle, linen, coal, salt and herring. Though often classed as the ‘poor relation’ to England, Rössner argues that, thanks to a more flexible customs system and the retention of its baseline economy, Scotland was able to remain economically viable in the years following the Acts of Union in 1707. As important debates on economic ideals began to flourish among Enlightenment thinkers, Scotland became a testing ground for macro-economic experiments. Rössner argues that mercantilism helped Scotland’s economy during the 1730s and 40s, providing a more positive and efficient framework than contemporary thinkers like Adam Smith would have us believe.

Readership

Political and Economic History, Scottish Enlightenment

Contents

1 Setting the Scene: Commerical Exchange, Culture and Economic Development in a Pre-Modern World
2 Underdevelopment and Traces of a Modern Economy, c.1600–1760: Models and Empirical Evidence
3 Stasis and Dynamics in Pre-Modern Scotland, c.1600–1760
4 1738–41: The Harvest Cycle Strikes Back
5 Commerce and Structural Change, 1660–1783
6 At the Dawn of the Modern World? A Conclusion

Related titles

• Adam Smith: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: Edited by William Playfair
• An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Oeconomy: A Variorum Edition
• Mercantilist Theory and Practice: The History of British Mercantilism
• Merchant Colonies in the Early Modern Period
• Merchants and the Military in Eighteenth-Century Britain: British Army Contracts and Domestic Supply, 1739–1763

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