Domingo Gallego y los progresos de su camino

This text comments on Domingo Gallego’s book Los caminos del progreso: una historia del desarrollo económico (“The ways of progress: a history of economic development”). It is argued that the book’s originality lies in the assembling of a wide variety of pieces within a long-run approach that tends to unify the historical experience of today’s developed countries and brings together the history of economic facts and ideas. From an analytical point of view, the key to progress is not placed on any particular industry or social group, but on the contexts that promote the flourishing of diverse projects and their coordination. After identifying the echoes of Gallego’s trajectory as an agricultural historian in the book’s argument, the main contents of the book are reviewed. The paper also provides some observations about the definition of progress, the kind of institutionalism that informs the book, the historical positioning of the present time in developed countries, and the material on less developed countries.