Las «Reflexiones sobre el estado actualdel comercio de España» (1761), de Simón de Aragorri: contenido, estudio de fuentes y primera interpretación

«Reflexiones sobre el estado actual del comercio de España» —Reflections on the current state of commerce in Spain— was anonymously published in 1761. At the time both the treatise and its author, the merchant Simón de Aragorri, were well known. Nevertheless, the work vanished for centuries and there was not known copy available at disposal of historians until now. This article analyzes Reflexiones emphasizing the context within which the treatise was drawn up, the author's environment, his intellectual sources, and the economic significance of the book. Conclusions suggest that the treatise is essentially a translation-adaptation of a work by the French economist Jacques Accarias de Serionne. The objective of the text was reorienting the domestic and overseas economic policy of the Spanish monarchy. In particular, it pretended a restructuration of the Spanish Public Finances and to solve the monetary distress caused by the entrance of precious metals. It also aimed at reorienting the Uztáriz and Ulloa's protectionist, interventionist and industrialist approach towards a new strategy of economic growth based on agriculture and free trade. Its foundations also aroused a substantial change on the transatlantic commercial relationships.