A Unifying Enlightenment

This book contains a systematic study of economic institutions during the Spanish Enlightenment in the areas of print culture (the press, merchants’ handbooks, teaching materials), education (university chairs in political economy and commerce) and the organisation of financial matters at state level (economic societies, trade consulates and the official statistics agency).

A Unifying Enlightenment is a fresh interpretation of political economy’s contribution to the development of the European Enlightenment. Jesús Astigarraga shows that, far from being a straightforward intellectual phenomenon, this new science played a crucial role in both the circulating and institutionalisation of Enlightenment culture and the process of political unification and articulation undergone by the Spanish monarchy, which culminated in a constitutional culture.