<P> The mercantilists saw a large population as a form of wealth that made possible the development of bigger markets and armies . Opposite to mercantilism was the doctrine of physiocracy, which predicted that mankind would outgrow its resources . The idea of mercantilism was to protect the markets as well as maintain agriculture and those who were dependent upon it . </P> <P> Scholars debate over why mercantilism dominated economic ideology for 250 years . One group, represented by Jacob Viner, sees mercantilism as simply a straightforward, common - sense system whose logical fallacies remained opaque to people at the time, as they simply lacked the required analytical tools . </P> <P> The second school, supported by scholars such as Robert B. Ekelund, portrays mercantilism not as a mistake, but rather as the best possible system for those who developed it . This school argues that rent - seeking merchants and governments developed and enforced mercantilist policies . Merchants benefited greatly from the enforced monopolies, bans on foreign competition, and poverty of the workers . Governments benefited from the high tariffs and payments from the merchants . Whereas later economic ideas were often developed by academics and philosophers, almost all mercantilist writers were merchants or government officials . </P> <P> Monetarism offers a third explanation for mercantilism . European trade exported bullion to pay for goods from Asia, thus reducing the money supply and putting downward pressure on prices and economic activity . The evidence for this hypothesis is the lack of inflation in the British economy until the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, when paper money came into vogue . </P>

Who benefits most in the economic system of mercantilism