This chapter discusses a manuscript by the Spanish economist Manuel Maria Gutiérrez (1775–1850), which provides a comparative overview of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century free ports. The purpose of the manuscript was to filter through the existing models to select the appropriate foundations for the establishment of Cádiz as a free port and amplify its positions as an international trading hub. Intriguingly, in his voluminous manuscript, Gutiérrez attempted to turn the different manifestations of free-port policies, regulations, and characteristics into a ‘system of free ports’, a methodical framework in which the multitude of European free ports and the specificities of the functioning of different free ports within different states could be reduced to ‘one law’. In addition to reconstructing the overall picture offered by the manuscript, the chapter focuses on some critical observations about paradigmatic free ports and Gutiérrez’s conclusions for the role that Cádiz could develop in its relationship with trade networks in Asia and America. Gutiérrez was inspired by the classical political economy of his time and developed his manuscript in response to the predicament of Spain conditioned by its history in global trade.
The evils of ‘beguiling Liberty’: A comparative perspective on free ports in a manuscript by Manuel María Gutiérrez (1830)
MARCELLA AGLIETTI
2024-01-01
Abstract
This chapter discusses a manuscript by the Spanish economist Manuel Maria Gutiérrez (1775–1850), which provides a comparative overview of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century free ports. The purpose of the manuscript was to filter through the existing models to select the appropriate foundations for the establishment of Cádiz as a free port and amplify its positions as an international trading hub. Intriguingly, in his voluminous manuscript, Gutiérrez attempted to turn the different manifestations of free-port policies, regulations, and characteristics into a ‘system of free ports’, a methodical framework in which the multitude of European free ports and the specificities of the functioning of different free ports within different states could be reduced to ‘one law’. In addition to reconstructing the overall picture offered by the manuscript, the chapter focuses on some critical observations about paradigmatic free ports and Gutiérrez’s conclusions for the role that Cádiz could develop in its relationship with trade networks in Asia and America. Gutiérrez was inspired by the classical political economy of his time and developed his manuscript in response to the predicament of Spain conditioned by its history in global trade.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
