A Brazilian Adam Smith
Cairu as the Founding Father of Political Economy in Brazil at the beginning of the 19th century
Keywords: Adam Smith, José da Silva Lisboa, Visconde de Cairu, economic thought
Abstract
Adam Smith’s seminal work, The Wealth of Nations, was introduced to Brazilian readers by an autodidatic “economist”, José da Silva Lisboa, at the beginning of the 19th century. The paper intends to reconstruct the reception of Smith’s ideas in Brazil (and Portugal), through the early works of José da Silva Lisboa. He was a remarkable intellectual, liberal by instinct besides a government official, who was largely responsible for the “economic opening” of Brazilian ports to foreign trade (decreed by the Portuguese Regent, Prince D. João, in 1808, at his arrival in Brazil). He was honored with the title of Viscount of Cairu (who became the patron of the Brazilian economists in the 20th century). He translated, incorporated, copied and transformed many Smithian ideas in his books (published in Portugal and Brazil, by Imprensa Régia), adapting them to a colonial economy and a backward agricultural environment. He suggested, among other original features, the existence of a fourth factor of production (besides land, labor and capital): knowledge, which could be considered an anticipation of modern conceptual evolution in economic thinking.References
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______. The winding paths of capital. Interview with David Harvey. New Left Review, n.56, Mar-Apr/2009, p.61-94. Avaible em:
CAIRU, José da Silva Lisboa. Observações sobre a franqueza da indústria, e estabelecimento de fábricas no Brasil (1810). Senado Federal, Coleção Biblioteca Básica Brasileira, Brasília, 1999.
FENELON, Dea Ribeiro. Cairu e Hamilton: um estudo comparativo. Tese de doutorado apresentada à Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Belo Horizonte, 1973.
FURTADO, Celso. Formação Econômica do Brasil (1959). Fundo de Cultura.Rio de Janeiro, 1963.
LIMA, Heitor Ferreira. História do Pensamento Econômico no Brasil. Companhia Editora Nacional, São Paulo, 1976.
LISBOA, José da Silva. Escritos Económicos Escolhidos, 1804-1820. Banco de Portugal, Coleção de Obras Clássicas do Pensamento Económico Português, Lisboa, 1993.
OLIVEIRA, Luis Valente de; RICUPERO, Rubens (orgs.). A Abertura dos Portos. Senac-SP, São Paulo, 2007.
SMITH, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Londres, 1791.
Published
2018-04-17
How to Cite
Almeida, P. (2018). A Brazilian Adam Smith. MISES: Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, Law and Economics, 6(1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.30800/mises.2018.v6.64
