Canga Argüelles, José

Born 1770; died 1843. Spanish count, political figure, and economist.

During the Spanish revolution of 1808–14, Canga Argüelleshelped organize resistance to the French occupation. He was a deputy to the Cádiz Cortes and minister of finance during the Regency, and he helped prepare the Cádiz Constitution of 1812.In 1814, after the restoration of absolutism in Spain, he was exiled. He took part in the Spanish revolution of 1820–23 and occupied the post of minister of finance in 1820–21; he belonged to the party of moderates (moderados). An émigré from 1823 to 1829, he was not active in political life after returning to Spain. He was the author of several studies in economics. His fivevolume work Financial Dictionary for Directors of Finance (1826–27), written from a bourgeois-liberal viewpoint, is rich in material on the economic life of Spain in the late 18th and early19th centuries.