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Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is often assumed to advocate the doux-commerce thesis, suggesting that commerce could lead to international peace. Smith's cosmopolitanism was considered to be at odds with earlier political economists, known as mercantilists. Smith himself criticized what he called the "mercantile system." Unlike the later categorization of mercantilism, Smith’s own notion of the "mercantile system" was not necessarily analyzed purely in terms of economic theory. He denounced this system because of its political consequences, which he argued could lead to isolationism. Smith's political inclinations distorted the articulation of his economic theories. We can understand his concessions to the economic aspects of mercantile system.
| Organization | University of Tokyo / University of Glasgow |
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