The political purpose of political economy´s translations. George Grenville in the spanish Enlightenment

Abstract

European countries witnessed a strong flux of translations of foreign political economy works during the second half of the 18th century. In Spain, such literary activity should not be untied from the political context in which these works had a decided diffusion. Conversely, to a great extent, the main Spanish politicians at the time promoted and supervised the translations of foreign works as they esteemed that foreign reforms might be taken as useful models for the economic and political transformation of Spain. This article focuses on the economic works by the then Minister of Public Finance of Great Britain George Grenville and its economic diffusion in France and Spain, putting particular emphasis on his Spanish interpreter Domingo Marcoleta who acted as a genuine mediator. The modernization of Spanish Public Finances and transparency, with particular reference economic and financial issues, were two of the main central economic debates in Spain of the last 18th century and also protagonized this intense process of transfer and dissemination of economic ideas.