Manuel Joaquim Rebelo and the Portuguese Economic Thought in the Luso-Brazilian Empire Crisis

Author(s)

Bruno Ricardo Souza Vilagra

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2017-04-04

Examining board members

Vera Lucia Amaral Ferlini; Jose Jobson de Andrade Arruda; Nelson Mendes Cantarino; José Luís Miranda Cardoso; Milena Fernandes de Oliveira

• Advisor: Vera Lucia Amaral Ferlini

Abstract

Manuel Joaquim Rebelo, merchant of Lisbon, wrote Political Economy, on 1795. In his work he addressed issues related to the functioning of the economy that should be understood on a single guiding principle. Rebelo developed theoretically themes such as the freedom of economic agents, labour division, composition of goods value, and the role of the market in the economy and the society. His work was published only in 1821, in the context of the General and Extraordinary Courts of the Portuguese Nation, when the debate on economics took the scene in order to equate the multiple realities that then comprised the Luso-Brazilian Empire. The work presented now, resume the analysis of Manuel Joaquim Rebelo bringing forward new information on the author that help us to understand his insertion into the Portuguese society, while evidencing his relation with the debate on political economy in Portugal in the late eighteenth century. His work, Political Economy is analysed highlighting its approximations, distances and advances in relation to the Portuguese economic thought in the period. Furthermore, to point out the roots of his thought, we relate his ideas with political economy authors as Adam Smith and António Genovesi. Finally, we compare Political Economy with the texts published on the same occasion in 1821, to inquire on the probable reasons that led to its publication at that time. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/17812-8 - Manuel Joaquim Rebelo and portuguese economic thought in the Luso-Brazilian Empire crisis
• Grantee: Bruno Ricardo Souza Vilagra
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)