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A Hispanic interpretation of the British crisis: Flórez Estrada and the debate on the banking panic of 1825

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  • José M. Menudo

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

Abstract

This article reinterprets the 1825 financial crisis by recovering the overlooked contribution of Álvaro Flórez Estrada, a Spanish economist whose 1826 pamphlet proposed a bullion-scarcity thesis as the root cause of financial collapse. Rather than attributing the crisis to speculative mania or domestic mismanagement, Flórez linked monetary contraction to the disruption of silver and gold inflows from Latin America following independence wars. Drawing on archival pamphlets, economic correspondence, and periodicals, the article traces the transnational circulation of Flórez’s ideas—through parliamentary debate in Britain, journalistic controversies in France, metaphorical reframing in Italy, and reprinting in postcolonial Latin America. By centering a Hispanic interpretation of crisis causality, the article challenges Anglo-centric narratives and reframes early financial thought as inherently global, multilingual, and geopolitically embedded.

Suggested Citation

  • José M. Menudo, 2025. "A Hispanic interpretation of the British crisis: Flórez Estrada and the debate on the banking panic of 1825," Working Papers 25.08, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:25.08
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Charles Read, 2023. "Calming the Storms," Palgrave Studies in Economic History, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-031-11914-9, January.
    2. Bishop C. Hunt, 1935. "The Joint-Stock Company in England, 1800-1825," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(1), pages 1-1.
    3. Larry Neal, 1998. "The financial crisis of 1825 and the restructuring of the British financial system," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 53-76.
    4. Bishop C. Hunt, 1935. "The Joint-Stock Company in England, 1830-1844," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(3), pages 331-331.
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    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B19 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Other
    • N2 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit

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