Mercantilism And Inflation In England During The 16^th And The 17^th Century

The time from the 16^th to the 17^th century is an important period of development of mercantilism, in which all kinds of commodities price are on the rise. Mercantilism economic policy leads to the transformation of the British society, meanwhile affecting level of commodity price. According to the characteristics of early and late mercantilism, the thesis mainly analyzes the reason of inflationThe first chapter mainly describes the outline of inflation during the 16^th and the 17^th century, by the means of relevant price index tables, at the same time, from three aspects of the economic structure, the change of political system and the theoretical guidance explains the background of mercantilism. Then from historical materials, to prove that there exists deficiencies in the aspects of precious metals input and contradiction between demand and supply, which explain the reason of inflation.The second chapter mainly discusses the relation between the early mercantilism and inflation, from the monetary policy during the reign of Henry VIII and Edward VI. On the one hand, according to the three aspects of time, royalty and face price of coinage, to analyze the reason of inflation. On the other hand, according to the characteristic of the early mercantilism that pays more attention to precious metals, to prove that there exists the relation between mercantilism and inflation.The third chapter mainly discusses relation between the late mercantilism and inflation. First, according to the factors of domestic and foreign ,which are in favor of the development of trade, to analyze the the characteristic of the late mercantilism. Secondly, according to the agricultural policy in the period of late mercantilism, to interpret the agricultural price. Finally, according to the late mercantilism trade policy, to analyze the non-farm products price.