Adam Smith and Spain

Adam Smith was a Scottish enlightened thinker who strongly advocated a strong free market, capitalism, and libertarianism. Opposingly, Spain at the time had virtually no middle class, and consisted largely upon the taxation of the peasants in order for the aristocracy to spend lavishly on unnecessary expenditures. Smith's philosophy would have not only been rejected by Spain, but it simply would not have worked in their economic situation. The application of his ideas involved a middle class to which the free market system could flourish. However, there were virtually no merchants or other middle class to provide such an oppotunity. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that the aristocracy would yeild some of its power in order to support libertarian ideas. Thus, Adam Smith's philosophy would have failed in Spain.

"Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the treasury of the state. "