Surprisingly, it is not well knownThe Salamanca School was several centuries ahead of the classical economists. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain, Salamander theologians analyzed many of the principles that classical liberalism would later adopt in the eighteenth century. Before Adam Smith, David Hume, or John Stuart Mill wrote their works, these thinkers were already thinking about value, property, trade, and justice in exchanges. It is no coincidence that Ludwig von Mises (Austrian School) mentioned that the Spaniards in Salamanca were “the true precursors of the modern economy.”
Impact The Salamanca School transcended Spanish borders. It is documented that the Founding Fathers of the United States acted inspired by ideas rooted in this tradition. She shared with the American Revolution the conviction that all men are created equal, that sovereignty resides in the people, and that the power of government should be limited. The principle of no taxation without representation also refers to this moral and legal reasoning.
The people of Salamanca were affectedThus in the political philosophy of the second American president, John Adams, and indirectly in the foundations of the North American Constitution, through receiving the thought of John Locke, who in turn drank from that source.
In the Hispanic American world, this heritage is noticeable in action By Manuel Belgrano. While studying in Salamanca and Valladolid, he came into contact with intellectual traditions that integrated moral theology with political economy. Belgrano emphasized that national wealth depends on work, education, and respect for private property, ideas that continue the Salamanca line. Likewise, he defended freedom of trade and condemned monopolies and corporate privileges, following a view of the market understood as a space for free and voluntary cooperation among individuals.
Thinkers Salamanca reflected on the moral and economic problems of trade, property, money, and political power. In 1555, Bishop Diego de Covarrubias already stated: “The value of a thing does not depend on its objective nature, but on the subjective appreciation of man.” Another great thinker, Martín de Azpilicueta (1493-1586), anticipated the quantity theory of money by writing: “Money is worth more where there is a shortage of it than where and when there is an abundance.” Juan de Mariana (1535-1624), with his usual boldness, advised kings to reduce public spending and avoid unnecessary wars: “Your Majesty, avoid unnecessary companies and wars and cut off the cancerous limbs.”
to Natural law theory, which focuses on dignity and freedom From man as a rational creature were born many of the ideas that would be embraced by classical liberalism, centuries later, under the leadership of Adam Smith. In this sense, liberalism can be said to be, in part, a secular version of Salamanca’s thought.
Austrian school Economia, founded by Karl Menger in 1871, collects the heritage of Salamanca And developed from a scientific perspective. Its goal is to explain how the market works and to demonstrate that only respect for free human labor allows economic and social progress. While classical liberalism considers the market to be a natural, harmonious system, in which prices tend to balance thanks to competition, Salamanca believes that the market is a dynamic process of coordination and discovery. Moreover, in contrast to the traditional – neoclassical – trend, which is based on rational decisions between certain means and ends, the Austrians focus their analysis on human action which is understood as a dynamic, creative and subjective process of discovery and coordination.
in Words by Jesús Huerta de SotoThe Austrian School is “the liberal school of economics par excellence, because it is the school that best explains how state intervention and coercion of the business function seriously impedes the social process of creativity and coordination.” The Austrian school is based on the study of man as he is: emotional, imperfect, and diverse. It seeks to understand the economic process of freedom of action. One of its most prominent advocates, Ludwig von Mises, defined economics as the science of rational human action, which he called “practical science.” Therefore, rationality is not measured by the success of the results, but rather by the fact that each person chooses freely according to his judgment. This ability to choose, err, learn, and take action according to one’s own goals is, for Mises, the true expression of human freedom. As Ishmael Quills wrote: “Freedom is not one faculty among others, but the way of human being.”
In short, both Salamancans and Austrians have one thing in common Fundamental: Individual freedom and responsibility are the basis of progress. Only when the free labor of human beings is respected does civilization flourish.
Economist
About The Author
