請依下文回答第 21 題至第 25 題 Mercantilism is the term commonly used to describe the body of opinion that prevailed in economicthought from the sixteenth through to the mid-eighteenth centuries. The mercantilists believed that theaffluence of a nation depended on its ability to achieve and maintain a positive trade surplus, and it was seenas of vital importance that a nation kept down the price of its exports. At the time when the mercantilists wrote,labor was the chief input into production and hence also the major cost of production. Consequently, there wasa keen focus on the level of wages. It was argued that wages should be kept as low as possible not just tominimize direct labor costs and hence also export prices, but also to maximize the supply of labor.The mercantilists believed that low wages were necessary to ensure that workers worked on a regular andcontinuous basis. The above ideas formed the basis of the so-called “utility of poverty” thesis: the argumentthat the wealth of the nation was greatest where those who labored were poor. The paradox in mercantilistlabor doctrine was that, while the laborer was seen to provide the source of the nation’s wealth, he or she wasargued to have no right to any greater share of economic wealth than was necessary to meet his or her mostbasic material needs. Many opinions informed the case put forward by the mercantilists in support of low wages. First, the viewwas taken that the English laborer was innately opposed to work. In the absence of poverty, workers would becertain to remain idle and higher wages were to be avoided as a means of enforcing a regular pattern of workthat was required to increase national wealth. Alongside low wages, the workhouse was to act as a “school ofindustry” to instill in the poor the habit of regular and diligent work. Second, workers were claimed to havevery low material horizons, and would be unresponsive to wage incentives. High wages were seen to result inincreased idleness with a negligible effect on consumption levels, and low wages and high prices wererecommended as a means to coerce the workforce into working long hours. Third, workers in England werecondemned for drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and for leading debauched lives. It was argued that ifwages were allowed to rise, then workers were sure to indulge their passion for “vice.” Fourth, there was a fearthat a rise in the living standards of the laborer would lead to disorder and sedition in society.
21 What is the passage mainly about?
(A) Impoverishment of workers between the 16thcentury and mid-18thcentury.
(B) The mercantilist doctrine to labor force between the 16thcentury and mid-18thcentury.
(C) Social-economic factors for economic growth of countries between the 16thcentury and mid-18thcentury.
(D) Effects of low wages on laborers’ antisocial personality between the 16thcentury and mid-18thcentury.