ABSTRACT
The leading politicians who ran the country and forged Belgium’s new constitution during and after the struggle for independence in 1830 numbered one economist among their ranks: Charles De Brouckère. He was also the only economist who obtained a seat in Parliament following the first general elections in 1831. After his resignation in 1832, economists would not return to the Belgian Parliament until 1848, but since then economists have been present in the Belgian Parliament without interruption.
