ABSTRACT
The grocers functioned in a market economy, that is, they purchased goods to sell to other people. But the market in which they participated was only partially fee, both in the colonial and national periods. The Mexican requirement that the grocers take in pawns in exchange for comestibles was an intrusion into the free market process, one that sometimes prejudiced a store's viability. The inventories of the New York grocers seem not to have been as varied as those in Spanish America, although they may have been as large. An important difference between the grocers of Spanish America and New York is that the New Yorkers appear to have invested sizable amounts of money in income-producing limited liability instruments, such as bonds or bank notes, or in mortgages. Spanish American grocers invested in additional stores simply because they lacked other opportunities for attractive, long-term income-producing ventures.
