Mora and the Enciclopedia Moderna (1851–1855)

The publication of the EM was a real landmark in the context of mid-nineteenth-century Spanish culture. In terms of its political economy content, the work highlights the fact that Spanish political and cultural elites attributed a similar status to that of the classical sciences to the discipline. The economics entries were written by Mora with the overall aim of disseminating political economy among a well-read but non-specialist audience, contributing to the training of the elites responsible for the future development of fledging Spanish capitalism and influencing the design of contemporary economic policy. The many pages devoted to these issues, their internal coherence and the work’s extremely broad distribution made it a key player in the spread of European economic thought, particularly ideas aligned with liberal and free trade ideology, throughout mid-nineteenth-century Spain.