UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY
2nd International Conference on Economic and Social History
"Markets" and Politics
Private interests and public authority (18th-20th centuries)
Volos, 10-12 February 2012
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Abstracts
- Hugo Pereira Markets, Politics and Railways: Portugal, 1852-1892
On that presentation I aim to describe the relationships between markets and politics in Portugal, with railways serving as a background, during roughly the second half of the nineteenth century. Since in Portugal, at the end of the century, more than half of the railroad network was in the hands of foreign companies, we are in the presence of an historical context that could foster dangerous relations between the Portuguese government and parliament and foreign investors. We shall see that those dangerous and tense relationships did in fact exist and provoked some awkward moments for the Portuguese rulers, finances and economy. Then we will try to explain how that meddling of investor from abroad in the Portuguese issues influenced the deployment of the network itself. To do that we will examine diplomatic correspondence and some of the political debate that took place in both houses the Portuguese parliament.
