ABSTRACT
The time frame examined by important studies concerning Brazilian economic thinking usually only considers the time period after the twentieth century, starting from the 1930s.1 Therefore, before actually entering the main topic of this chapter, it is necessary to minimally justify the study of Brazil’s economic ideas from the nineteenth century. We would like to propose that the study of the nineteenth century may be relevant to understand, generally speaking, the formation of economic thinking on the periphery of capitalism and, more specifically, its influence on the economic policies effectively adopted during the Brazilian Empire. In this sense, we agree with Beauclair (2001), who criticizes economists who disregard the nineteenth century as a relevant period in the history of Brazilian economic thought.
