Varieties of Mercantilism: Simone Luzzatto and the Economic Role of the Jews in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

This chapter intends to give a comparative insight into some of the economic concepts expressed by the Venetian Rabbi Simone Luzzatto (ca. 1583–1663) in his Discourse. The aim is to emphasise some distinctive traits in Luzzatto’s elaborations on economic matters, with specific reference to the key role played by the Jews in mercantile activities. With the purpose of carrying out this investigation, this chapter provides a comparative analysis of the works of some writers who were geographically, chronologically, and conceptually quite distant from Luzzatto (Giovanni Botero, Antonio Serra, and Thomas Mun). In Luzzatto’s Discourse, the social aspect seems to be central: mercantile dynamics are guided by cultural arrangements. To get a better idea of this approach, we shall consider the different concepts regarding geographic space, then move to an analysis of the role played by foreign trade and discuss how trade in general functioned in order to determine the influence on the economic position of a state. In conclusion, we shall see how Luzzatto’s considerations cannot be easily framed within a single paradigm.