Eighteenth-Century Objections to Commerce: A Modern Economic Analysis

This article uses modern economic theory to analyze two majorarguments of the eighteenth-century agrarian opponents of thecommercial republic. The two arguments are the claim that commerceincreases the variety of people within the republic, and theclaim that the wealth generated by commerce retards the people'sability to govern themselves. This article replies that theproblems created by pluralism depend crucially on the scopeof the government's power. Pluralism is less problematic ina limited government than in a government with broad powers.The problems created by luxury are not unique to commerce, andarise in any situation in which self-government is successful.