During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Spain brought more gold and silver back from South America to Europe then had been mined in all the previous years of European history combined. This influx of precious metals caused rampant inflation across Europe. As inflation stabilized somewhat this in turn led to an increase in capital available for investment. Unfortunately for the Spanish, much of their wealth ended up in the hands of the banking institutions of the Netherlands and England and both the aristocracy and the common people of Spain suffered as a result.

The mercantilist system drove the first wave of European exploration and colonization from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It depended upon overseas colonies for raw resources which were then shipped to the metropole (home country) to be turned into manufactured goods. These manufactured goods, the theory goes, would then be sold around Europe, allowing the metropole to develop a favorable balance of trade. Over time, many of the colonies began to provide a market for the sale of manufactured goods or provided workers to fuel the system, but the primary purpose for establishing overseas colonies in the mercantilist system was almost always to provide the home country with much-needed raw resources.

The middle class benefitted by far the most from the inflationary economy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Artisans and merchants could demand more money for their products and skilled laborers could demand higher wages for their work. Bankers and investors grew rapidly in social, economic, and political influence and the majority of these were also drawn from the burgeoning bourgeoise.

Chartered companies were large, relatively new corporations that were established with permission of the government of whatever country they came from (usually English, Dutch, or French) and granted a monopoly over trading rights in a specific geographic area. The British East India Company is one such famous example.

David Ricardo’s Iron Law of Wages states that the wage paid to a worker will always fall close to the minimum needed to keep that worker alive and working. In more detail, it states that an increase in the demand for labor will lead to higher wages, larger families, and population growth. This will then in turn cause the demand for labor to subside and the trend to be reversed. Ricardo imagined this part of the cycle of the economy and stated that any attempt by the government to disrupt this process would only make matters worse. So, according to Ricardo, if there is a decrease in the demand for labor, there will be a proportional decrease in the size of families, as workers will not be able to feed and provide health care for the same number of family members.

Economies changed as a result of wars. After World War I, true adherence to laissez-faire economics no longer seemed possible, and the influence of socialist and labor parties can be seen in the decision to nationalize or intervene (in a protectionist way) into parts of the economy.

Though bronze was widely used at the time by many peoples including the Celts, iron ingot was used as currency in Britain. This was because it was difficult to make but not as scarce as silver or gold. The Celts had very little exposure to gold and likely did not know how to process the necessary materials to create silver.

Minerals, particularly tin and lead which are key in the manufacturing of silver, was Rome's primary interest. Although cattle was aplenty in Britain and the Romans certainly took what they wanted, that was not their goal. The Romans main goal was the expansion of their empire and the acquisition of valuable minerals to continue to fund their expansion, i.e. pay their armies.

The Danegeld was used originally to pay off Danish armies who would come to raid England, instead they would be given a danegeld. It has its origins from the time when the Danes held control over England. Though England had kings that ruled over lands, it was the Danes those kings payed tribute to, so they could keep their thrones. Eventually that simply became the term for a tax.

Thomas Malthus wrote his famous work An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798, and it quickly came to have a profound effect on the government policies of Western European countries and the development of several ideas, such as the theory of natural selection. It states that population will naturally increase at a greater rate than the ability of that population to sustain itself—essentially, that unchecked population growth will lead to poverty and a lower standard of living. Malthus based his theory, in part, on his belief that human reproduction operates on an exponential model whereas production operates on an arithmetic model. The British government in particular during the Industrial Revolution took Malthusian theories to heart and attempted to limit the growth of the working class.