The Promotion of National Prosperity: The Case of Industrial Activities in Portugal in the Transition to Liberalism

In the turn to the nineteenth century (and following Adam Smith's writings), selfinterest became increasingly seen as a crucial element in the promotion of wealth. Within a certain framework (that Smith would call the system of natural liberty), selfinterested behaviour of economic agents would lead to a higher and better productive level, i.e., to a more efficient one (cf. Smith, 1776).