Mercantilism: Economic Theories Founded on Biases of Special Interest Political Groups

In a recent quote of the day examining political virtues, I asked

Does 'mistaken theories' cause political "value and ideas" or the other way around (or biased "value and ideas" of special interest groups use the cover of mistaken theories to promote their policies)?

In terms of mercantilism Murray Rothbard has the answer

The system of mercantilism needed no high-flown "theory" to get launched. It came naturally to the ruling castes of the burgeoning nation-states. The king, seconded by the nobility, favored high government expenditures, military conquests, and high taxes to build up their common and individual power and wealth. The king naturally favored alliances with nobles and with cartelizing and monopoly guilds and companies, for these built up his political power through alliances and his revenue through sales and fees from the beneficiaries.

Neither did the cartelizing companies need much of a theory to come out in favor of themselves acquiring monopoly privilege. Subsidy to export, keeping out of imports, needed no theory either: nor did increasing the supply of money and credit to the kings, nobles, or favored business groups. Neither did the famous urge of mercantilists to build up the supply of bullion in the country: that supply in effect meant increased bullion flowing into the coffers of kings, nobles, and monopoly export companies. And who does not want the supply of money in their pockets to rise?

Theory came later; theory came either to sell to the deluded masses the necessity and benevolence of the new system, or to sell to the king the particular scheme being promoted by the pamphleteer or his confreres. Mercantilist "theory" was a set of rationales designed to uphold or expand particular vested economic interests.