Ideas and Achievements of the State Policy of Mercantilism in Germany During the 17th and 18th Centuries[Ideje a úspěchy státní politiky merkantilismu v Německu v 17. a 18. století]

The study deals with the theory and praxis of mercantilism in Prussia during the era of Frederic II. At the beginning the author drew the attention to the definition of the term mercantilism which represented neither comprehensive economic system nor economic theory but artificial construct of the liberal economic theoreticians at the break of the 17th and 18th centuries. This ambiguity enabled creation of the different mercantilist schools and approaches agreeing only on the strong position of the state in economic sphere. The attention is set to the practising of the mercantilist policy during government of Frederic II. The author confirms the hypothesis that Frederic II in many respects continued in the policy of his predecessor and he did not come up to the fundamental change of the state policy. Moreover his long-time persistence in outmoded concepts was one of the reasons why Prussia got economically behind the advanced European states. This is also one of the main reasons why the author assesses the economic policy of Frederic II as unsuccessful.