Economía política, desigualdad y liberalismo, 1750-1850

La transición del Antiguo Régimen al liberalismo se dotará de una filosofía jurídica legitimadora que entronizará la propiedad como condición de acceso a la ciudadanía y a la participación política. La economía política tampoco faltará a la cita con la causa liberal: mercado, "interés particular" y "propiedad perfecta", se configurarán como nuevos antídotos frente a la desigualdad.The transition for the ancien régime towards Liberalism will be based upon a legitimizing legal philosophy which will set ownership as the primary condition granting access to citizenship and political participation. Political economics will also lend a hand to the liberal cause: market, "private interest" and "perfect ownership" will become the new antidotes against inequality

Las Cortes de Cádiz: de la "felicidad pública" al "interés particular". La crisis de la utopía ilustrada

The legislative action undertaken during the Cortes session at Cadiz was presided not only by the bankruptcy of the Ancient Regime and vacuum power brought about by the abdications of Bayonne, but also by the French and American revolutions, Adam Smith’s work and the colonial crisis. These factors explain in themselves the singularity of the moment and the historical opportunity they meant. We will, in the following pages, examine both the concrete institutional change and the answers given to economic problems, using to the purpose both primary and secondary sources. In the Cortes session, national sovereignty in its collective form, and not the “philosopher” king, were responsible for the promotion of reforms. “Utopian liberalism” convinced the Cadiz parliamentarians that only through institutional change could economic reform be brought about. Liberal legislation, having left aside the rural world and industrial interests, was born in this regard unable to count with the social support which would have been necessary to guarantee the viability of reform