Through a series of case studies on different topics and national experiences, this volume shows how political economy has occupied an important place in discussions about emancipation and independence that occurred in the region. This book illustrates each of these strategies, exploring issues such as trade policy, money and banking, socio-economic philosophy, nationalism, and economic development. The expert authors stress how the originality of Latin American economic thought often resides in the creative appropriation of ideas originally devised in different contexts and thus usually ill-suited to local realities.

Alexandre Mendes Cunha is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department and currently the Director of the Center for European Studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil.

Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. His research interests include the history of economic thought, economic history, and economic methodology.

Preface Joseph L. Love

Introduction Alexandre Mendes Cunha & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak

Part 1: "International Dissemination of Economic Ideas"

Chapter 1-

Political Economy and Latin American Independence from the 19th to the 20th Century Alexandre Mendes Cunha & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak

Chapter 2-

Circulating economic ideas: adaptation, appropriation, translation José Luís Cardoso

Part 2: "Protectionism and Free Trade in the 19th Century"

Chapter 3- Latin America and the nineteenth-century British free trade project Anthony Howe

Chapter 4- Silva Lisboa on Free Trade and Slave Labor: the fate of liberalism in a colonial country Maurício C. Coutinho

Chapter 5- The (Far) Backstory of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Stephen Meardon

Chapter 6- The Treaties of 1810 and the Luso-Brazilian Empire Crisis Milena Fernandes de Oliveira & Nelson Mendes Cantarino

Part 3: "Ideas from Abroad"

Chapter 7- Julio Menadier: A Listian Economist in the Economic Policy Debate in Chile (1860-1880) Claudio Robles Ortiz

Chapter 8- Jean-Baptiste Say's Social Economics and the Construction of the 19th Century Liberal Republic in Colombia Jimena Hurtado

Chapter 9- From "social economy" to "national political economy": German economic ideas in Brazil Luiz Felipe Bruzzi Curi

Part 4: "Doing Political Economy in Latin America"

Chapter 10- An outline of the economic thinking of José Joaquim Rodrigues Torres and the economic policy of the Brazilian Empire (1848-58) Thiago Fontelas Rosado Gambi

Chapter 11- From free-banking to paper money: ideas behind the building of a National Bank in Colombia at the end of 19th century Andrés Álvarez

Chapter 12- The economic redefiniton of Peru: the turn to Liberalism through the 1845-1854 debated Álvaro Grompone Velásquez

Part 5: "Nationalism and Economic Development in Latin America"

Chapter 13- Varieties of Economic Nationalism: Latin America and Europe Michele Alacevich

Chapter 14- A note on some historical connections between nationalism and economic development in Latin America Mauro Boianovsky

Chapter 15- CEPAL, Economic Nationalism, and Development Joseph L. Love