The Colonial Balance of Trade: Uztáriz and the Carrera de Indias

Fidel J. Tavárez ()
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Fidel J. Tavárez: Queens College-CUNY

Chapter Chapter 8 in Gerónimo de Uztáriz and his Economic Work, 2025, pp 163-181 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract That Uztáriz’s Theórica had enormous influence in the Hispanic world, especially concerning commercial matters, is a well-known fact. Be that as it may, it remains surprising that an economic treatise centrally concerned with commercial matters had very little to say about the Spanish Empire’s port-restricted and convoy system of trade, the infamous fleets and galleons. Why did Uztáriz almost entirely eschew this topic, even though the reform of the fleets and galleons would later become one of the most important economic concerns among ministers in the court? After describing Uztáriz’s economic thought in relation to various arbitristas (projectors) of the seventeenth century, this chapter proposes that, to answer this question, it is first necessary to reconstruct a related debate about whether a modern commercial nation had to imitate the Dutch in erecting privileged commercial companies. Arguing against the need to imitate the Dutch model, Uztáriz suggested that the most important factor of a successful commercial state was a well-organised system of tariffs and economic incentives that privileged national goods. Whether this occurred via the fleets and galleons or commercial companies was of secondary importance. Instead, the crown had to focus on trading with national goods and achieving a favorable balance of trade.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-75857-7_8

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