ABSTRACT
The chapter covers the penetration of economic thinking in Brazil from the late colonial period until the early post-independence phase. The majority of the Brazilian economic thinkers followed the well-established traditions of the University of Coimbra, but they had to apply their knowledge to two central characteristics of the Brazilian economy: slavery – a long-lasting institution – and the commercial treaties and arrangements established from 1808 between Portugal and England, which impacted both the Portuguese and the Brazilian economy. These treaties and arrangements implied preferential commercial flows (‘free trade’) between Brazil and England, and growing pressures from England against the continuity of the slave traffic. The chapter also deals with other features of the economists’ works, such as the analysis of regional problems, and describes the introduction of formal political economy teaching in Brazil, soon after the independence. An overview of some innovative appraisals of the economy, by eminent European mineralogists and botanicals that surveyed the Brazilian territory, complements the chapter.
