Capital y negocios: el comercio agremiado de Madrid a finales del siglo XVIII.

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth century, the commercial sector which had founded the Cinco Gremios Mayores de Madrid was the most important in Spain. Researchers, nevertheless, have not pay attention to the activities of its members except to underline the minor impact they had on the city and regional economies. Most of their studies are based on assessments made by contemporaries and on the characteristics of the activities carried out by this institution. Nevertheless, the study of the inventories made by these merchants reveals that their investments in the Cinco Gremios Mayores involved only a small part of their capital. Moreover, most of this capital was invested by the managament of this institution in the Spanish commercial and industrial sectors. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to ask again why the commercial sector from Madrid was not able to introduce new factors that may have changed the economic systems of Spain in general and Castilla in particular.