War among the Sovereign States and the Generation of Economics

抄録

Abstract: The focus of this paper is the wars in Europe from the middle of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century and their relationship with contemporary economics1 （limited to England and Scotland）. As for the relationship between war and economy, there has been the accepted view that war may arise due to particular economic interests. While it is true that early mercantilists saw foreign trade and war as inseparable, major economists in this period did not find a cause for war in economy. Economists wrestled with the practicalities of fi-nancing war, such as the tax reform, but as public loans were enlarged for the expenditure of war, warned against mercantilist wars and the bankruptcy of the state. Smith and Tucker had different opinions about the independence of the American colonies, and Malthus and Ricar-do disputed the causes of the recession that followed the Napoleonic Wars. The economists of this era, although considering war as a political matter, continued to look for ways to evade war. The issue of war as a struggle for supremacy between states was expected to be replaced by efforts to strengthen commercial and industrial competitiveness in the free trade market. JEL classification numbers: B 11, B 12, N 45.