Abstract

AMARAL, Luciano. Institutions, property and, and economic growth: Back to the passage from the Ancien Régime to liberalism in Portugal. Anál. Social [online]. 2012, n.202, pp.28-55. ISSN 0003-2573.

The liberal revolution was the biggest institutional breaking point in Portuguese history. It created the modern state and modern private property. This change was particularly complex in Portugal due to the peculiar nature of the country’s Ancien Régime. The aristocracy was excessively dependent on service to the Crown, thus keeping it as an un-entrepreneurial class, and leading to the underdevelopment of property rights. The nineteenth century was, thus, mostly a period of transition, where the difficulties in destroying the old organization and creating a new one were daunting. But once it was done the Portuguese economy started showing relatively robust signs of growth.

Keywords : property rights; economic growth; liberalism; Ancien Régime.

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