Two Mercantilist Movement Reformers and Critics - Assignment Example

 Francois Quesney as a member of the Physiocrat movement is such a critic of the mercantilist movement, arguing for a natural order to economic activities that are governed by natural laws, rather than human and governmental interference. The work of Quesnay for instance on the input-output paradigm of economic activity tries to encapsulate the natural order of an economy based on that paradigm, to show that it has a logic that works best when left to its own devices. The governmental intervention has no role in this regard. Jacques Turgot argues for the same, and sees the privileged classes, by virtue of their unnatural privileges, warping the natural flow of the economy so to speak. In place of the privileged classes, Turgot points to the farmers, the proponents of capitalism, as being best able to farm the lands in the most market efficient manner (“Critics of the Mercantilist Era”).

On Meltzer’s Ideas
            Meltzer makes a good point about how democratic societies ultimately shape the extent of wealth redistribution through the power of the vote. In the US, for instance, where voters want greater wealth redistribution, voters go for Democrats with such agendas, and where they want less, they go for Republicans who espouse lower taxes and minimalist governments.