Forbonnais and the Discovery of the ‘Science of Commerce’ in Spain (1755–1765)

Abstract

SummaryThis paper analyses the broad and plural reception in Spain, in the period of 1755–1765, of the work by François Véron de Forbonnais, especially his Elémens du commerce. It focuses on the various ways in which this treatise was translated into Spanish. Several national newspaper articles as well as a published translation and an unpublished manuscript reproduced this important book. A detailed analysis of it's the reception amongst the major Spanish economists of the period leads to the conclusion that the Elémens du commerce fulfilled the consensus reached by the political elites regarding the need to redirect the monarchy towards a ‘New Politics’ based on the application of the principles of the ‘science of commerce’.