Thomas Mun

Title page of Mun's “England's Treasure by Foreign Trade”, 1664

Thomas Mun (baptized June 17, 1571 in London ; † July 21, 1641 there ) was an English merchant and economist .

Life

Mun came from a merchant family and made wealth in the Mediterranean trade. In 1615 he became director of the British East India Company . From 1620 he wrote numerous papers on economic topics. Through his professional activity and theoretical and journalistic work he was the leading exponent of mercantilism in England. His England's Treasure By Foreign Trade was the "Gospel of Mercantilism" for more than a century.

thesis

The usual means of increasing our treasury is foreign trade, whereby we must observe the following rule: annually sell more to foreigners than we consume from them. (positive foreign trade balance (exports> imports) as an indicator of the state treasury)

Works

A Discourse of Trade from England into the East Indies , 1621
England's Treasure By Foreign Trade , 1664 (posthumous) [1] Issue 1664 Digitized Issue 1698

Web links

Literature by and about Thomas Mun in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

^ Die kleine Enzyklopädie , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Volume 2, page 209
↑ "Unfortunately, things turned out differently in reality and appeared in 1609, four years before the" Breve trattato ", Thomas Mun's" A Discourse of Trade, etc. "In its first edition, this publication has the specific meaning that it is directed against the original monetary system, which at that time was still defended as state practice in England, i.e. represents the conscious separation of the mercantile system from its mother system. In its first form, the writing experienced several editions and exerted direct influence on legislation. In that of the author entirely revised and after his death published edition of 1664: "England's Treasure etc." it remained a mercantilist gospel for another hundred years. If mercantilism has an epoch-making work "as a kind of inscription at the entrance", it is this ... " (Friedrich Engels: Mr. Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft, p. 423.Digital Library Volume 11: Marx / Engels, p. 8054) . (see MEW vol. 20, p. 216)

personal data
SURNAME	Mun, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English businessman and economist
DATE OF BIRTH	baptized June 17, 1571
PLACE OF BIRTH	London
DATE OF DEATH	July 21, 1641
Place of death	London

[1] Die kleine Enzyklopädie , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, Volume 2, page 209

[2] "Unfortunately, things turned out differently in reality and appeared in 1609, four years before the" Breve trattato ", Thomas Mun's" A Discourse of Trade, etc. "In its first edition, this publication has the specific meaning that it is directed against the original monetary system, which at that time was still defended as state practice in England, i.e. represents the conscious separation of the mercantile system from its mother system. In its first form, the writing experienced several editions and exerted direct influence on legislation. In that of the author entirely revised and after his death published edition of 1664: "England's Treasure etc." it remained a mercantilist gospel for another hundred years. If mercantilism has an epoch-making work "as a kind of inscription at the entrance", it is this ... " (Friedrich Engels: Mr. Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft, p. 423.Digital Library Volume 11: Marx / Engels, p. 8054) . (see MEW vol. 20, p. 216)