ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to provide a broad picture of the main economic development questions that Portugal faced over the previous two centuries, considering the theories and doctrines prevailing at each of the different times and analysing the policies that were applied. It highlights how, over the years, Portuguese economists perceived the nature and the causes of economic development and what policies were considered to be most appropriate for promoting development. The chapter attempts to cover the field as broadly as possible, concentrating on the writings of the most important economists, both Portuguese and foreign. It deals with the first half of the nineteenth century, a period marked by the affirmation of liberalism and the espousal of physiocratic and classical economic theory. The chapter traces the evolution of the eclectic mainstream approach and of the liberal views and policies that were predominantly adopted until the outbreak of the First World War.
