ABSTRACT
Spanish mercantilism emerged due to the realization that foreign goods were more competitive than domestic ones; that raw materials were being exported, to the great detriment of the economy; and that the country’s productive structures and infrastructures were decidedly backward. Gradually these authors became aware that what underlay these difficulties was the inflation of domestic prices, and that this in turn was caused by the excessive quantity of precious metals being imported from America. As they wisely pointed out, it was an excess not in absolute terms, but in terms of the capacity to put this money to use as capital; in other words, in view of the weak, backward productive structures.
