We investigate the existence of national styles of political economy and suggest the characteristics and determinants of the German, Austrian, French, and English styles. Some methodological implications for the history economic thought are outlined.

This article explores why Smith's work is a turning point in the history of economic thought. The constitution of an economic discourse and the delimitation of the economy sphere are attributed to: i) the specific nature of Smith's moral philosophy; ii) his way of conceiving economic action as...

This paper examines the emergence of an economic discourse separated from ethics or political philosophy. It argues that the works of Locke are a decisive moment in this process, for disclosing the existence of a sphere of the economy distinct from the sphere of the politics. Furthermore, the...

This paper investigates the emergence in the Modernity of an economic discourse intended to be autonomous from moral and political philosophy. The article demonstrates that the existence of economics as separated field of knowledge is recent and its creation related to the appearance of market...

Despite the lack of consensus on the appropriate concept of ‘social capital’, research in the area has continued even in the most criticized macroeconomic area. The investigation about the importance of social capital to generate differences in regional per capita income (per capita income...

This study examines whether social capital is an element that has a significant relationship with Brazilian states’ economic performance in the period of 1996 to 2008. The issue is addressed by the ideas of Bourdieu (1980, 1986), Coleman (1988, 1990) and Putnam et al. (1993), considering that...

The article covers the general situation of construction works carried out in the traditional roadway infrastructure by the Provincial Government of Minas Gerais, between 1840 and 1889. The principal sources are Highway and Bridge Construction Processes, generated within the scope of the Public...

We estimate the components of income per worker of the states of Brazil through level decompositions, in 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. Relative differences, with respect to São Paulo, in the productivity of labor were due to relative differences in capital and in total factor productivity. In...

This paper aims to present causality tests between financial system and economic growth in the frequency domain for Brazil, India, France, Japan, United States and Korea. This approach allows to capture nonlinearities in the direction of the causality from short to longer terms. Indeed the...

The accumulation of human capital plays a crucial role in growth theories and it is incorporated in the growth models in a very simplified way. Therefore it does not take into account the economic development process complexity. They consider that the amount of human capital is an important...