José Luís Cardoso

Paying for the liberal state : the rise of public finance in nineteenth-century Europe

Public finance is a major feature of the development of modern European societies, and it is at the heart of the definition of the nature of political regimes. Public finance is also a most relevant issue in the understanding of the constraints and possibilities of economic development. This paper is about the rise and development of taxation systems, expenditure programs, and dept regimes in Europe from the early nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I. Its main purpose is to describe and explain the process by which financial resources were raised and managed. We analyse nine countries or empires that are considered highly representative of the widest European experience on the matter and discuss whether there are any common patterns in the way the different European states responded to the need for raising additional resources to pay for the new tasks they were performing

Teaching the history of economic thought

The main purpose of this survey is to present the results of a questionnaire recently sent to historians of economic thought. This questionnaire — presented in the appendix - was devised so as to provide data on the approaches and experiences of teaching the history of economic thought in a wide range of universities throughout the world. A summary of the most significant results is presented in section 2 of this survey. Section 1 provides a general introduction to the methodological context of the discussion of problems concerning the teaching of the discipline.

Paying for the Liberal State

Public finance is a major feature of the development of modern European societies, and it is at the heart of the definition of the nature of political regimes. Public finance is also a most relevant issue in the understanding of the constraints and possibilities of economic development. This book is about the rise and development of taxation systems, expenditure programs, and debt regimes in Europe from the early nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I. Its main purpose is to describe and explain the process by which financial resources were raised and managed. The volume presents studies of nine countries or empires that are considered highly representative of the widest European experience on the matter and discusses whether there are any common patterns in the way the different European states responded to the need for raising additional resources to pay for the new tasks they were performing.

Reflexões periféricas sobre a difusão internacional do pensamento econômico

This article discusses the broad topic of the international diffusion of economic ideas and theories, by stressing its relevance for a better understanding of the process of formation of economic thought on a national scale. The article explores several meaningful examples of the international flow of economics and presents a brief survey of the main historiographical approaches available. It gives special emphasis to the influence of CEPAL (ECLA, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America) – namely through the writings of Raul Prebisch and Celso Furtado – in Portugal and Spain in the 1950s, which features an atypical case of a peripheral influence on semi-peripheral countries. The articles main claim is that the study of international diffusion of economic thought sheds new light onto both the very understanding of the building of economics as a science and the awareness of its implications on the functioning and change of economic reality within a given national context.

FREE TRADE, POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE BIRTH OF A NEW ECONOMIC NATION: BRAZIL, 1808-1810 *

Al final de 1807, Brasil era la joya del imperio portugues. Ante la amenaza de invasion del territorio por parte del ejercito napoleonico, y con el objetivo de garantizar el pleno ejercicio de la soberania politica, la corte portuguesa se traslado a Brasil. La primera accion del Principe Regente Don Juan fue decretar la apertura de los puertos brasilenos al comercio de las naciones amigas, poniendo fin a un largo periodo de comercio exclusivo colonial entre Brasil y la metropoli. Gran Bretana fue la principal beneficiaria de la apertura del comercio brasileno, asi como de otras medidas de liberalizacion economica inspiradas en los principios y doctrinas de la economia politica. De esta forma, esta ciencia asumio un papel decisivo en la cimentacion de la autonomia economica de la nacion brasilena, lo que vendria a afianzar su independencia politica en 1822.

Corporatism and the Theory of the Firm: Lessons from the Portuguese Experience

In 1933, Portugal was officially converted to a corporatist state, a state where it was accepted that the semi-autonomous bodies representing the various branches of economic and social activity would have formal powers in defining public policies. In such a context, an important change also occurred at the level of economic theories and doctrines, in keeping with the novelties emanating from both the legal and political fields.

Enlightened Reforms and Economic Discourse in the Portuguese-Brazilian Empire (1750-1808)

In this article we discuss the role of political economy in the design and implementation of economic and political reforms that occurred in Brazil in the second half of the eighteenth century. Brazil was during this period still a part, the most important part, of the Portuguese empire. The reading of economic texts of this period allows for an interpretation of the role played by the enlightened economic literature to challenge and transform the existing structures of the old colonial regime, as well as to prepare Brazil for its future path of economic and political independence. The new visions and representations of the empire were put forward by authors faithful to enlightened mercantilist and cameralist doctrines supporting the reform of colonial administration. However, the most relevant policy measures were implemented under the shadow of Adam Smith, whose system of political economy also included a new way of looking at both the nature of colonial trade and the need for its reform.

Discurso econômico e política colonial no império Luso-Brasileiro (1750-1808)

The article is a reflection on the policies of the Marquis of Pombal and Dom Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, comparing their aims in the economic field and putting in perspective the general question of enlightened reformism in the Iberian world. Aiming at a discussion of the different paths in the history of ideas in the 18th century, the article explores the framework of influences on economic and political discourse with regard to the conception and implementation of reforms, stressing the concern with the role of colonies (essentially Brazil) in the Portuguese economy during the second half of the 18th century.

F. Solano Constâncio on political economy: A “science of proportions”

The article provides an analysis of the work of Francisco Solano Constâncio (1777–1846), a Portuguese author who lived in Paris for most of his life. He had a very colourful and diversified career, which included the practice of medicine, political agitation, scientific journalism, diplomacy, linguistics, history, and the popularisation of political economy. As far as this last aspect is concerned, Constâncio is particularly well known for his translation into French of the famous works written on political economy by David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus. He was also a very active editor of learned journals published in Paris in the 1820s, in which he discussed and criticised the writings of Jean-Baptiste Say and Simonde de Sismondi, among others. The article shows that Constâncios sound knowledge of political economy was a basic condition for his critical acceptance of abstract theoretical principles and general policies that could not be applied to the study of national economic realities and specific social problems.

A Proposal for a "European Currency " in 1861: The Forgotten Contribution of Carlos Morato Roma

In 1861, the Portuguese politician, publicist and businessman Carlos Morato Roma published a book on monetary themes, in which he defended the creation of a ‘European currency’. Although the book was translated into French and reviewed in the Journal des Economistes, Morato Roma’s proposal has largely been ignored by the extremely vast literature dedicated to the study of the reforms of the European monetary system during the 1860s. This paper seeks to characterise and contextualise the significance of the Portuguese author’s proposal, taking into account contemporary debates on the gold standard, bimetallism and the creation of a universal currency.