The Asturian economist Alvaro Florez Estrada (1766-1853) has earned the title of "the most relevant theorist of liberalism" in nineteenth-century Spain by espousing liberal--even "extremely liberal"--ideas "that nobody questions" (Munarriz Peralta 1967, 11; Anes 1992, 17; Smith 2000, 323; see also Perez-Prendes 1991, 29; all translations are mine). (1) His views on land property are treated as if they were a mere exception with no impact on his classical-liberal framework. In this essay, I explore the limitations in Florez's liberal analyses, especially those contained in his most important work, Curso de economia politica, first published in London in 1828.
Florez relied ...