ABSTRACT
In this chapter we aim to offer an integrated view of the Iberian imperial economies of the 18th century. The picture is still far from clear and few if any historians have tried to interrogate developments in Hispanophone and Lusophone America in close comparison and also within their peninsular context. The sheer size would seem to advise against such an attempt. Indeed, there are few survey texts that have even tried to depict eighteenth-century Spanish America, Brazil, peninsular Spain or Portugal on their own from an economic perspective (Bulmer-Thomas, Coatsworth, and Cortés Conde 2008). Yet, we will argue that such an integrated view offers a new perspective and brings common trends and substantial divergences into sharper relief.
