This is the closing seminar of the project The Political Economy of Democracy Building: the production and employment system, public provision and institutions (FCT 2023.10849.25ABR). Here are the main conclusions we have reached: this form of political economy was based on the country’s internal structure and an intense process of institutional building, resulting in a profound reorganisation of the economy and society, significant investment-led economic growth, an increase in employment and public provision, with widespread improvements in welfare; the critical and structured economic knowledge developed prior to the revolution was mobilised, the ‘economic governance’ was neither military nor ‘technical’ and was carried out by the leading figures of this school of thought, who were members of the early governments; against a backdrop of crisis and recession in the global economy, on the one hand, and strong popular mobilisation, on the other, the Portuguese revolution engaged with the best economic thinking of the time. A comparative analysis with Spain, whose transition - negotiated amongst elites - was contemporary with our revolution, shows that its economic trajectory reveals performance indicators inferior to those of Portugal.

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This event is being held as part of the project ‘DEMOCRACIA - The Political Economy of Democracy Building: the production and employment system, public provision and institutions’, reference 2023. 10849.25ABR, funded by national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology [DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/2023.10849.25ABR].