Unemployment and Consumption: The Mercantilist View

Abstract

I. Mercantilists not desirous of mere numbers, 698. — Importance of employment, 700. — Remedies for idleness: provision of employment, 702; corrective and punitive legislation, 705. — II. Condemnation of luxury, 708. — Means of curbing it: sumptuary laws, 712; taxation, 713; moral suasion, 713. — Defense of luxury, 714.—Hume's views, 716. —Conclusion, 718.