Thomas Mun Quotes
Although a Kingdom may be enriched by gifts received, or by purchase taken from some other Nations, yet these are things uncertain and of small consideration when they happen. The ordinary means therefore to increase our wealth and treasure is by Foreign Trade
Thomas Mun, 1571-1641, Director, British East India Company, England's Treasure by Foreign Trade, 1630
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Foreign trade creates jobs and eliminates jobs. The people who lost jobs as the result of increased foreign trade are readily identified while the job beneficiaries may never know the reason. So it is a hard political sell even though most of the economic studies have showed that more jobs of more value are created by trade than lost. However, the losers are generally blue collar workers while the beneficiaries are generally white collar and knowledge workers. So there is a socioeconomic class differentiation in the trade issue.
The industrial revolution was also creating an entirely new form and structure for international economics.
Sir Thomas Mun was an English writer on economics and is often referred to as the last of the early mercantilists. Most notably, he is known for serving as the director of the East India Company. Due to his strong belief in the state and his prior experience as a merchant, Mun took on a prominent role during the economic depression which began in 1620. To defend the East India Company and to regain England's economic stability, Mun published A Discourse of Trade from England unto the East-Indies.
