The Common Thread of China Today and Louis XIV’s France is Mercantilism

choi

Jacob Soll, Colbert in China. The World’s largest nation takes a page from a 17th-century playbook. This time, it might work. Boston Globe, July 14, 2013.
http://www.boston.com/2013/07/13 ... JSP/singlepage.html
(“The experience of France suggests that the most important resource of all—human capital—may be, paradoxically, very difficult for a centralized state to capture”)

Excerpt in the window of print: In the end, it was political freedom that was France’s Achilles’ heel, and it might be China’s, too.

Note:
(1) mercantilism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism
(Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from the 16th to late-18th centuries; In Europe, academic belief in mercantilism began to fade in the late 18th century, especially in Britain, in light of the arguments of Adam Smith [1723-1790; published Wealth of Nations in 1776] and the classical economists;

Quote: “Most of the European economists who wrote between 1500 and 1750 are today generally considered mercantilists; this term was initially used solely by critics, such as Mirabeau and [Adam] Smith, but was quickly adopted by historians. Originally the standard English term was ‘mercantile system.’ The word ‘mercantilism’ was introduced into English from German in the early 19th century.

(2) “Louis XIV’s finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert”
(a) Baptiste
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptiste
(a French given name or surname, and may be a shortened form of Jean-Baptiste (literally, John the Baptist))
(b) The French (Normandy) /English surname Colbert is “from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements kol- (akin to Old Norse kollir ‘helmet’) + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous.’”

Due to its French origin, note its pronunciation. See Stephen Colbert
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert
(c) Jean-Baptiste Colbert
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Colbert
(1619-1683; Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683)

(3) “Colbertism--or dirigisme, as the state ownership of industry is called today--is largely seen as discredited today”

dirigisme (n; French, from diriger to direct (from Latin dirigere) + -isme -ism; First Known Use 1947):
“economic planning and control by the state”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dirigisme

(4) “WHEN KING LOUIS XIV of France took the throne in 1661, France was the most populous and agriculturally rich country in Europe, with more than 23 million inhabitants. Yet as rich as France was, the crown was virtually broke.”
(a) Louis XIV of France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France
(1638-1715; Reign 1643-1715; Coronation 1654; Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661 after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin; section 6 Non-European relations and the colonies: for the latter, Louisiana basically)

Quote: “During Louis's reign, France was the leading European power and it fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession. There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.
(b) List of regions by past GDP (PPP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)
(section 1 World 1–2003 (Maddison): In 1700: France (19,539), Netherlands (4,047), UK (10,709), Spain (7,481), Japan (15,390), China (82,800), India (90,750))

* Please recall that Germany and Italy were not united until the second half of the nineteenth century. Also England (with Ireland) and Scotland united in 1603 under James I.
(c) List of regions by past GDP (PPP) per capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)
(section 1 World 1–2003 (Maddison): in 1700: France (910), Germany (910), Italy (1,100), Netherlands (2,130), UK (1,250), Spain (853), Japan (570), China (600), India 550))
(d) Demographics of France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_France
(“France was historically the largest nation of Europe. During the Middle Ages more than one quarter of Europe's population was French; during the 17th century it was still one fifth. Starting around 1800, the historical evolution of the population in France has been extremely atypical in the Western World. Unlike the rest of Europe, there was no strong population growth in France in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The birth rate in France diminished much earlier than in the rest of Europe. Thus population growth was quite slow in the 19th century, and the nadir was reached in the first half of the 20th century when France, surrounded by the rapidly growing populations of Germany and the United Kingdom, had virtually zero growth. The slow growth of France's population in the 19th century was reflected in the country's very low emigration rate. While millions of people from all other parts of Europe migrated to the Americas, few French did so. Most people of French extraction in the United States are descended from immigrants from French Canada, whose population was rapidly growing at this time.
(e) I can not find the populations of European nations around that time.

(5) Louis XIV/Colbert “br[ought] the fight to the Dutch Republic * * * At the time, the Dutch Republic dominated world trade; it also countered the Sun King’s monarchical might by promoting a free market, political freedoms, and religious tolerance”
(a) Franco-Dutch War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War
(1672–1678; often called simply the Dutch War; The year 1672 in Dutch is often referred to as Het Rampjaar, meaning the year of disaster)
(b) Netherlands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
(section 1.2 Dutch Republic (1581 [independence from Holy Roman Empire]–1795)

Kingdom of the Netherlands came into being in 1815 (to the present day).

(6) Canal du Midi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_du_Midi
(a) du: “contraction of de + le (of the)”
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/du#French
(b) midi (noun masculine; From Old French mi (“middle”) + di (“day”)):
“1: noon, midday
2: south
3: (specifically) southern France, the Midi”
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/midi

(7) “During his [Colbert’s] time in power, the navy grew sixfold to 250 boats, with more battle-ready ships of the line and naval personnel than either Holland or Britain.”

ship of the line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_the_line

(8) “He [Colbert] founded the Academies of Sciences and Arts as well as the Royal Observatory, hiring foreign scientists to run the institutions.”
(a) French Academy of Sciences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Academy_of_Sciences
(founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert)
(b) Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Académie_royale_de_peinture_et_de_sculpture
(English: Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture; founded in 1648, modelled on Italian examples; In 1661, it came under the control of Jean-Baptiste Colbert who made the arts a main part in the glorification of Louis XIV)

peinture (noun feminine): “painting”
(c) For Royal Observatory, see Paris Observatory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Observatory
(section 2 History)

(9) “He founded the famous Gobelins tapestry works and the Royal Glass Works that made Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors (and which still is in business today as the company Saint-Gobain).”
(a) Gobelins Manufactory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobelins_Manufactory
(a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins)
(b) For Royal Glass Works, see Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man ... e_glaces_de_miroirs
(English: Royal Mirror-Glass Factory; the distant fore-runner of Saint-Gobain)
(c)
(i) Hall of Mirrors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Mirrors
(The principal feature of this famous hall is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens)
(ii) The Hall of Mirrors. Chateau de Versailles, undated.
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/d ... the-hall-of-mirrors
(“Economic prosperity is demonstrated by the dimensions and quantity of the three hundred and fifty-seven mirrors that decorate the seventeen arches opposite the windows, attesting that the new French production of mirrors, which at the time were luxury objects, is capable of stealing the monopoly away from Venice”)
(iii) A close-up photo showing the mirrors (opposite the windows)
http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris2006 ... rsailles_palace.jpg

, in Nikki and Gard Karlsen's blog: “Trip to Paris, France - April 2006.”
(iv) “Saint-Gobain SA is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at [I] La Défense and [II] in Courbevoie.”  Wiki
(A) Saint Gobain glass: "(Chem.)  a fine variety of soda-lime plate glass, so called from St Gobain in France, where it was manufactured. - Brande & C.”
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Saint+Gobain+glass

* Wiktionary:Abbreviations in Webster
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Abbreviations_in_Webster
(“Brande & C. = Brande & Cox [Dictionary]”)
(B) Our History: Key dates. Saint-Gobain, undated.
http://www.saint-gobain.com/en/group/our-history/key-dates
(1692 Factory opens at Saint-Gobain (Aisne, France); 1853 First Saint-Gobain site outside France (Mannheim, Germany))
(C) Saint-Gobain, Aisne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gobain,_Aisne
(a commune in the Aisne department; Named after martyr Saint Gobain [died 670; an Irish Benedictine monk])

(10) “He invested state money in the East India Company and expanded French colonies in Canada and Louisiana (the Mississippi River was, for a time, named the Colbert River). And he personally oversaw the building of Versailles, the greatest palace of its time, which served as a showcase for French luxury goods.”
(a) Mississippi River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River
(section 1 Name; section 5.2 European exploration: In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle [1643-1687] and Henri de Tonti claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for France, calling the river Colbert River after Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the region La Louisiane, for King Louis XIV)

* The Wiki page does not say when the River was RENAMED Mississippi River. Well, it (renaming) did not happen. See

Frances Stover, When Mississippi Was 'Colbert' River; French gave the stream the name of minister who managed to extract money for exploration from the huge sums he was forced to collect to meet his king's extravagances. The Milwaukee Journal, Dec 13, 1938
http://news.google.com/newspaper ... AAAIBAJ&pg=6984,7289931
("The Mississippi river never went under the name of the 'Colbert,' except in France and in Louisiana. After 1763, when by the treaty of Paris the eastern part of the Mississippi valley was transferred from France to England, everyone forgot that the great river had ever been the 'Colbert'")
(b) The “entire” Mississippi River Valley included both the east and west of the River. That is why section 5.3 Colonization of the above Wiki page states,

“Following Britain's victory in the Seven Years War [1754-1763] the Mississippi became the border between the British and Spanish Empires. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Great Britain rights to all land east of the Mississippi and Spain rights to land west of the Mississippi. * * * France reacquired 'Louisiana' from Spain in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. The United States then bought the territory from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803."
(c) Palace of Versailles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles

(11) “Colbert’s financial and legal administration was the envy of the world. From Samuel Pepys, the British chief secretary to the admiralty, to American founding father Alexander Hamilton, who designed the US government’s early financial system, state administrators dreamed of centralizing industrial management as Colbert had done.”
(a) Samuel Pepys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys
(1633-1703; English)
(b) Alexander Hamilton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton
(Alexander Hamilton is sometimes considered the 'patron saint' of the American School of economic philosophy that, according to one historian [Michael Lind, Hamilton's Republic; Readings in the American democratic nationalist tradition. Free Press, 1997, pp. xiv–xv, 229–30], dominated economic policy after 1861. He firmly supported government intervention in favor of business, after the manner of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, as early as the fall of 1781")

(12) “Colbert had to force merchants to invest in the money-losing East India Company. Millions of livres disappeared into unprofitable, state-subsidized factories, and many of Colbert’s rules and regulations stifled industry.”
(a) French East India Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_East_India_Company
(1664-1769; the beginning: founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in the East Indies, Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert; the end: The Company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769, about 20 years before the French Revolution)
(b) French livre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_livre
(781-1795; the beginning: The livre was established by Charlemagne as a unit of account equal to one pound of silver; the end: In 1795, the franc was introduced)

(13) “mass expulsion of Protestants in 1685”
(a) Edict of Fontainebleau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Fontainebleau
(b) Fontainebleau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau
(a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris; section 1 History: name origin; On Oct 18, 1685 [2 years after Colbert died], Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau there)