Spanish Economic History

I was able to acquire three more books for 2010.  Before I took up economics, I was an avid historian.  I was interested in mostly military history: classical military history and the Second World War.  My interest in history has rolled over as I now mull over economics textbooks.  After finishing Murray Rothbard’s Economic Thought Before Adam Smith, I became interested in writing a piece on the Spanish Empire.  Specifically, the article would deal with the conquest of the Americas, the influx of gold and silver bullion into Spain, its spread into Europe and the resulting inflation.  There would be some history on the price-fixing which took place during various Spanish reigns (well, all Spanish reigns really), but for the most part it would deal with how Spain’s power was dependant on this new bullion to maintain their relative high purchasing power compared to other European nations.

Until recently, I haven’t really seriously considered going through with the idea.  In early January I picked up Hayek’s Prices & Production and Other Works.  After finishing Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle and The “Paradox of Saving”, I put the book down and decided to switch to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (a book that I plan to finish within a week hopefully, as I will have to go back over it anyways over the next year).  Although I intend to stick to my original reading schedule, I have cluttered it up some more, although with nothing too serious (if I dedicated myself, I could probably finish at least two of three readings within a day on a weekend).

I purchased Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson’s The School of Salamanca and Paul Cantor’s (and Stephen Cox’s) Literature and the Economics of Liberty.  The latter of the two is longer, but I am only interested in the chapter on Cervantes (for now).  The book deals with any possible influence on Cervantes by the School of Salamanca, and reinterpretations of his writings.  Cantor and Cox suggest that Cervantes was more pro-market than many previously considered.  I have a similar interpretation of Cervantes’ Don Quijote: I believe that it was a metaphor for a dying Spain, given that the Spanish government refused to adapt to new economic ideas.

To give myself a chance to shore up on my general knowledge on the Spanish Empire, I also bought Henry Kamen’s Empire: How Spain Became a World Power.  This will provide some additional background, although I want to use it mostly to source relevant contextual information.  I will have to buy a second and third general history, as well, but these should be relatively cheap, and I can probably find them at a local Borders bookstore.

In any case, expect a piece on the subject some time in the future (I would give it at least a month or two).  In the mean time, I have some reading to do.