French 17th-Century Economics

Goods and Trade

• France became known as a purveyor of many luxury goods in the 17th century. Lace, silk and wigs were three of the country's main exports at the time. However, because of the many taxes levied by King Louis XIV, farming became more difficult in France. There was also a ban placed on all imported goods, so all goods sold in France were made in France.
  
  

Mercantilism

• Mercantilism is the economic theory that the wealth of a nation is dependent on its holdings in precious metals. Therefore, it was important for a country to have a foreign trade surplus, foster national commercial interests and establish colonies. This was the popular economic theory in 17th-century Europe. France, however, only sought to encourage national commercial interests while England was starting to import goods from the colonies it had established overseas. This created an economic problem for France by the end of the century.
  
  

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

• Jean-Baptiste Colbert was the economic czar of France from 1661 until his death in 1683. He was superintendent of finance and commerce and the secretary of state. He instituted a bureaucratic system of controls that included inspecting, marking and measuring all imported goods. He also had a group of people who worked for him, called intendants, who would inform on any businesses selling goods that were not up to specifications. This did not endear him to the lower-class businesses in France, which could not afford the high prices of French goods as well as the high taxes levied by the king.
  
  

Laissez-Faire

• Toward the end of the of the 17th century "laissez-faire" was starting to become the predominant economic theory in France. "Laissez-faire" economic theory states that business should not be interfered with by government. Colbert's prohibitive tariff's and Louis XIV's high taxes were creating a backlash among French merchants who had no goods to sell because they couldn't pay the prices for goods from their own countrymen. Even Colbert's intendants were starting to see the negative impacts of his policies and switching their views.