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Samuel Fortrey, 1622-1681.
English Mercantilist author about whom very little is known, save that he served in the Privy Council of King Charles II of England.
Samuel Fortrey is the author of a celebrated 1663 tract, which was reprinted several times. It was relatively liberal Mercantilist tract, and contained rudiments of the theory of comparative advantage. But the fame of Fortrey's essay, however, rests almost entirely on his conjectural (and mistaken) calculations that England had a massive trade deficit with France. Without citing sources, Fortrey estimates that France was exporting £2.6m to Britain annually, whereas Britain only exported £1m to France, and thus "our trade with France is at least £1.6m. a year clear lost to this kingdom" (p.26)
This figure was picked up and reiterated by later authors (e.g. Roger Coke), and contributed to increasing trade restriction with France in 1677-78.
Prior English Mercantilist authors had usually been alarmed by the competition from the Dutch Republic, and indeed Mercantilist-inspired wars were pursued against the Dutch through the 1660s and early 1670s. The shift of emphases towards relatively poorer but rising France in the late 1670s was not unrelated to political considerations. However, it is unclear which is the cart and which is the horse. Fortrey's figures were widely believed, contributed to the political atmosphere, and continued to be repeatedly cited well into the 18th C.
Fortrey was one of the authors selected by McCulloch for reprinting in 1856.
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