Evolution of the Role and Conception of the Customs Policy in the Economic Theory and Practice

Economic history shows that customs policy is at least as old a phenomenon as the institution of the state. The origins of autarkic-protectionist ideas go back as far as antiquity. At a time when Athens was fully supplied with foreign goods and indigenous production was in decline, Plato advocated limiting foreign trade and taking up the economy by the state, and Aristotle advocated a return to a state of closed domestic economy 1 . Ancient and feudal-type states, alongside protective policies and adherence to the idea of autarky, pursued economic policies, including customs policies characterised by harsh fiscalism. This was due to the fact that economic policy at the time was subordinated to the maintenance of the monarchical family and the satisfaction of its ambitions. Fiscalism increased especially under conditions of national expansion and related efforts to strengthen state institutions 2 . In the second stage of capital accumulation, accumulation with the help of the state through taxes and all sorts of measures to accelerate the development of capitalism began to become important. One such tool was customs duties. These tendencies find their first intellectual and religious expression in Calvinism 3 . Customs, as a tool of economic struggle and conscious economic policy, began to play an important role as monetary and communication relations developed. Jean Bodin had already argued that freedom of trade should be maintained so that states could complement each other economically, but in doing so he demanded an export duty on agricultural products, a ban on the export of raw materials, certain privileges on the import of foreign raw materials, and finally large duties on foreign products. Thus, it can be said that Bodin was against the idea of total prohibition, but he was also not in favour of complete freedom of international exchange.