Brief biography of Tomás de Mercado. Religious and economist of the 16th century

Abstract

This work introduces the figure of Fray Tomás de Mercado, a Dominican friar from Seville in the 16th century. Tomas de Mercado makes a very pertinent analysis of his reality through a prism that combines the scholastic religious tradition of moral judgment with the discovery of America and the consequent change in the conception of the world as it was known until then. His main work, Summa de tratos y contratos, is a moral and economic guide to the exchanges and contracts that began to take place because of this singular historical event. It deals with the correct and lawful behavior of merchants and traders and the economic and conceptual consequences that the Discovery was producing. Thus, in his work we can see how economy and religion have not always been separated.