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

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and both an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, 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 ...

and a

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, best known for his book ''Summa de Tratos y Contratos'' ("Manual of Deals and Contracts") of 1571. Together with Martín de Azpilcueta he founded the economic tradition of "Iberian

monetarism Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetar ...

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

Scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and Ca ...

", or the

School of Salamanca The School of Salamanca () was an intellectual movement of 16th-century and 17th-century Iberian Scholasticism, Scholastic theology, theologians rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria. From the beginning of the ...

. He was either born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

or possibly

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, before returning to study at Salamanca University, where he then became a lecturer in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, moral theology 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 political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Harvard Unive ...

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'', redacted at Sevillian merchants' request. It was written for businessmen as well as scholars and contains many general digressions on social issues, often in very lively language. He devotes much thought to the concept of the fair or "just price", analysing it in terms of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, and strongly supporting the fixed price set by the government (''tasa del trigo'') on social and ethical grounds, even if it meant producers selling at a loss. He considered thus that the prices control politic of the Spanish authorities were a divine obligation made to the prince, in charge of tranquillity and peace of the kingdom. Consequently, Mercado is a vigorous supporter of the intervention of the State in the economy, in the contrary of

Luis de Molina Luis de Molina (29 September 1535 – 12 October 1600) was a Spanish Jesuit Catholic priest, jurist, economist and theologian renowned for his contributions to philosophy and economics within the framework of the second scholasticism. A ...

or Leonardus Lessius, who considered that any intervention of the authorities is inopportune owing to the corruption and the clientelism that it will create. Mercado devoted a chapter to the

African slave trade Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were once commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient and medieval world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Red Sea s ...

, 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, ,
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