Though mercantilism is the essential content of textbooks of history of economic thought, its core view has been mistaken as “wealth is money, money is wealth” for a long time. Some scholars mistakenly think that the system of mercantilist economic policy was built on the mixture of gold and silver with wealth. In this paper, through the study of the original literature, classics and the latest research achievements, we draw the conclusion that these views were wrong. There were some earlier mercantilists realized that the countries prosperous through manufacturing. The economic policy system promoted the rise of England and still had important impact. The textbooks should be amended and give a true exposition of mercantilism.

重商主义作为经济思想史教科书的必讲内容，其核心观点长期以来被误读为“财富即货币，货币即财富”，其经济政策体系也被认为是建立在将金银与财富混为一谈的基础之上。本文通过研究原始文献、经典著作以及西方经济思想史学界的最新研究成果，指出教科书中的这些看法是错误的。部分早期重商主义者已经认识到制造业是最大的财富之源。晚期重商主义关注如何通过发展制造业使国家富强。来源于实践经验的重商主义经济政策体系促进了英国崛起，至今仍具有重要影响力。教科书应该尽早做出修正，还重商主义以本来面目。