Tomás de Mercado (1525–1575) was a Spanish Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

and both an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and a

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, best known for his book ''Summa de Tratos y Contratos'' ("Manual of Deals and Contracts") of 1571. Together with

Martín de Azpilcueta Martín de Azpilcueta (Azpilkueta in Basque) (13 December 1491 – 1 June 1586), or Doctor Navarrus, was an important Spanish canonist and theologian in his time, and an early economist who independently formulated the quantity theory of mone ...

he founded the economic tradition of "Iberian

monetarism Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of governments in controlling the amount of money in circulation. Monetarist theory asserts that variations in the money supply have major influences on nation ...

"; both form part of the general intellectual tradition often known as "Late Scholasticism", or the

School of Salamanca The School of Salamanca ( es, Escuela de Salamanca) is the Renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spanish theologians, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria. From the beginning of the 16th cen ...

. He was either born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

or possibly

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he joined the Dominicans as a young man, becoming lecturer in Arts in the Priory in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, before returning to study at

Salamanca University The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is t ...

, where he then became a lecturer in philosophy,

moral theology Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...

and law. He then worked in the Exchange House of

, the centre of Spain's international money-flows. He died at sea on a voyage returning to Mexico. Mercado became more widely known outside the Spanish-speaking world after he was discussed by

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at H ...

in his ''History of Economic Analysis'', published posthumously, ed. Elisabeth Boody Schumpeter, in 1954. With the strong revival of monetarist economics since then, he has attracted further scholarly attention.

Mercado's ''Summa''

The ''Summa'' was an expanded edition of a work first published in 1569 as ''De los tratos de India y tratantes en ellas''. It was written for businessmen as well as scholars and contains many general digressions on social issues, often in very lively language. Azpilcueta, a few years before, was the first to link the

price revolution The Price Revolution, sometimes known as the Spanish Price Revolution, was a series of economic events that occurred between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 17th century, and most specifically linked to the high rate o ...

that was affecting Spain to the influx of American gold, and Mercado extended this analysis, remarking that:

"High prices ruined Spain as the prices attracted Asian commodities and the silver currency flowed out to pay for them. The streets of Manila in the Spanish territories of the Philippines could be paved with granite cobblestone brought from China as
ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
in Chinese ships coming to get silver for China".

He devotes much thought to the concept of the fair or "just price", analysing it in terms of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, and strongly supporting the ''tasa'' or fixed price set by the government on social and ethical grounds, even if it meant producers selling at a loss. Mercado devoted a chapter to the

African slave trade Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean ...

, of which he was highly critical, seeing clearly that the concept of "just enslavement" did not reflect the practice of the actual trade. However he regarded it as acceptable for Europeans to buy slaves enslaved by Africans, and accepted the enslavement of captives in war, those sentenced for crimes, or children sold by their parents from necessity.Companion, 40

Notes

References

*Baeck, Louis, ''The Mediterranean tradition in economic thought'', Routledge, 1994, ,
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*"Companion": Nuccetelli, Susana; Schutte, Orfelia; Bueno, Otavio; ''A Companion to Latin American Philosophy'', John Wiley and Sons, 2009, ,
google books
*Gallardo, Alexander, ''Spanish Economics in the Sixteenth Century: Theory, Policy, and Practice'', Universe, 2002, ,
google books

External links

''Summa de Tratos y Contratos'' (PDF in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercado, Tomas De 1575 deaths People from Seville Spanish economists 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians Spanish Dominicans 1525 births University of Salamanca alumni School of Salamanca