Spanish Economics In The Sixteenth Century

Modern economics is generally credited to Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations, written in 1776. His economic theories still influence us today. Yet, Smith was influenced by the economic theories of sixteenth century Spain. In particular the school of economics known as the School of Salamanca. Further this work shows how the great influx of gold and silver coming into Spain from the New World affected not only Spain but all of Europe. The Spanish government struggled to control inflation and the struggling Spanish economy. All the while Spain tried to control not only the New World but also half of Europe, oppose the Reformation, and hold back the threat of the advancing Islamic Ottoman Empire. Considering the economic stagnation of our times, the problems in the Middle East, and our strained relationship with various European countries, this work offers insight into understanding these concerns.

This is a collection of recent revisionist essays on the economic and social history of seventeenth-century Castile by Spanish historians. The aim if the volume is to draw the attention of English-speaking scholars to the new approaches, techniques and source materials that have transformed Catalan economic and social history over the past two decades and to make available in English the most important of the conclusions that have undermined the old but still standard orthodoxies of the textbooks, but that have been acceible hitherto only to specialists.

This study examines the important contribution that Spanish economic writers have made over the centuries.

This is the 2nd English edition of John Fisher’s acclaimed book. The study examines economic relations between Spain and Spanish America in the colonial period, and their implications for the economic structures of both parties, from the beginning of Spanish imperialism until the outbreak of the Spanish-American revolutions for Independence. Originally published in Spanish in 1992, the text has been fully revised for this first English edition. Fisher begins with a general overview of the economic aspects of Spanish imperialism in America until the mid-sixteenth century before considering what America was able to offer Spain (and, through her, Europe as a whole), in terms of products and resources. A detailed explanation of imperial commercial policy follows and a close examination is made of inter-colonial trade, explaining ways in which it was articulated both directly and indirectly towards trans-Atlantic structures. The final four chapters of the book deal exclusively with the Bourbon era inaugurated in 1700. Issues tackled include the Spanish defeat at the hands of the British, the impact of commercial reform upon economic life in America and Spanish-Spanish American relations on the eve of the revolutions for Independence.