Arbitrista

The arbitristas were a group of reformist thinkers in late 16th and 17th century Spain concerned about the decline of the economy of Spain and proposed a number of measures to reverse it. Arbitristas directed analyses of problem and proposals ("memorials") for their solution to the king, asking him to take a particular action in the economic or political sphere. The increase in the production of proposals and analyses outlining solutions to the perceived problems of the empire were at a pace comparable to the inflation in the real economy during the price revolution of the sixteenth century and increased further with the crisis of the seventeenth century.