The skill composition of European migrants to the New World and their contribution to the human capital and institutional formation in destination countries are popular topics in economic history. This study assesses the skill composition of 19th century transatlantic migrants to Cuba. It finds that nearly half of the European immigrants originate from the Spanish province of the Canary Islands, which displays the lowest literacy and numeracy rates of Spain. Even within this province, those who left belonged to the least skilled section of the population. By promoting the influx of a cheap and poorly educated white workforce that replaced African slaves on their sugar estates, large landowners in Cuba contributed to the perpetuation of high economic, political and social inequality.

The Land Tax, established in Spain in 1845, suffered from the lack of an efficient system of data collection concerning ownership and the use of land. The documents known as «amillaramientos» are unworthy of trust, not only due to their high level of concealment, but also as result of the fact that they were by nature the fruits of political negociations and not of statistical research. A detailed analysis of die province of Cádiz confirms this hypothesis. As a result, the study of the Spanish agricultural growth of the second half of the nineteenth century and die first third of the twentieth century must consider the coincidence between this time period and die growing improvement in the quality of the official information concerned with cultivated areas, productions and profits. The series so far used depart, from artificially low figures, distorted by the antifiscal efforts which dominated the Spanish rural world at the time.

Using new public spending statistics for Spain and other various indicators we show that Spain and Britain suffered larger increases in public expenditure in the periods in which they fought each other and other countries. The British Exchequer spent much more than its Spanish counterpart, especially on the Army and Navy and debt repayment. This situation helps to explain why Britain emerged victorious against Spain in the majority of these wars and was a consequence of the political and institutional changes made in England from 1688 onwards, reducing budget constraint and allowing Britain to mobilise the necessary resources to become the leading world power. In Spain, however, the changes required to eliminate the country's history of bankruptcies and increase its spending capacity were not made.

La conciencia de que existen diferencias notables en el desarrollo socioeconómico de las diversas zonas de Italia —y especialmente entre Norte y Sur— ha estado siempre presente en Italia desde su unificación, pero ello ha producido, por lo general, un tipo de análisis de causas y remedios plasmados principalmente en términos de lo que ha dado en llamarse la questione meridionale. Como esta expresión sugiere, el problema se ha centrado en la zona atrasada, y, en consecuencia, ha arraigado profundamente la idea de que no afectaba al resto del país. Es este hecho el que ha justificado la adopción de medidas económicas del tipo de las «leyes especiales para el Sur».

An abundant literature has insisted on the oligopolistic character of the Spanish banking system during the Francoism, a phenomenon led by the great institutions with undesirable consequences on the credit supply. In addition, oligopoly would have been backed by the authorities. Nevertheless, new documentation from bank's archives shows that collusion was full of difficulties and breaches, and also that the behaviour of the Government not always responded to the demand of the big banks.

Aggregate estimates of British growth during the classical Industrial Revolution have been reassessed in the past decade and present a significantly revision of earlier views of British growth. Growth was slower dian previously believed and industrial change more localized and with a smaller impact Agricultural improvement and die relative ease with which labour moved to urban industry seems central to the experience. Although industry's impact now seems less than previously believed, industrial cities transformed society because die cotton textile industry expanded to exploit the advantage of its new technology and labour moved to the cities. But while exports expanded the share of industry and caused urbanization, they did not raise per capita income much because competition ensured that the benefits went to consumers. Finally, die specific features of die British industrial revolution seem to provide only weak guide to die growth process elsewhere.

The aim of this paper is to measure the influence of the railroad in the urbanization of Spain between 1860 and 1910. Our sources are from quantitative information –censuses of population– and qualitative one –coastal condition, existence of mining industry or industry, administrative capital and date of the railway connection–. We have estimated a first model of data panel in differences. Based on this model we have employed different estimation techniques in order to address omitted variables and/or endogeneity of the train variable. Results from all estimations give us clear evidence of the positive influence of the railroad on the urban growth. In addition a quasi-experiment design reinforces this conclusion. In short, although moderate, our paper shows strong evidence of the influence of the railroad on Spanish urbanization. This conclusion is coherent with other research.

En las tres primeras décadas del siglo xx la economía de los países industriales avanzados experimentó cambios profundos, al tiempo que conseguía tasas de crecimiento relativamente altas. La introducción de la electricidad y su pronta difusión han sido consideradas fundamentals para explicar el crecimiento de este período. Pero el papel exacto de esta nueva forma de energía en el progreso industrial y en el crecimiento económico estásujeto a cualificaciones, incluso a controversia. El objeto de este trabajo es ofrecer un primer contraste de hipótesis respecto a las causas económicas que marcan el ritmo y el grado de extensión de la electricidad en el sector industrial español—con énfasis especial en el caso del País Vasco—. Con este fin, me refiero en primer lugar a las contribuciones de varios autores respecto a la conexión entre electricidad y crecimiento y a los mecanismos que activan el proceso de electrificación. En particular, destaco la hipótesis según la cual el grado de electrificación, y la velocidad a la que ésta se produce, puede ser más debida a consideraciones de precios relativos entre tipos de energía alternativos y otros factores de producción que a ventajas absolutas de carácter técnico. En una segunda parte, y tras reunir la evidencia empírica pertinente, compruebo cómo, tanto en el conjunto español como en el caso vasco, coincidiendo con la presencia de unos mecanismos incentivadores muy débiles, se da un proceso de electrificación lento y poco profundo. Además de reforzar la tesis de Woolf (1984), la experiencia analizada es coherente con lo que ya sabemos respecto al comportamiento en España del sector energético (Sudrià, 1987) e industrial (Carreras, 1987). En nuestro país no parece darse la conexión automática apuntada por Devine (1983) entre electricidad y crecimiento económico.

In 1921 Mexico produced a quarter of the world's petroleum, making the country the second largest producer in the world, but by 1930 it only accounted for 3 per cent of production. To date, the debate surrounding this decline has relied mainly on events taking place in Mexico. Very little attention has been paid to developments elsewhere in the petroleum industry, except in Venezuela. Practically no attention has been paid to the reasons for the rise of oil output in Mexico. The massive changes which took place in the petroleum industry during the Great War years and its aftermath and especially the shortage of oil which occurred on world markets between 1918 and 1921 have been neglected. These events are crucial in order to understand the initial rise of the Mexican oil industry and help to understand the subsequent sudden decline.

Industrial Revolution advance supposed the loss of a great part of traditional olive oil markets, however it caused some other possibilities, other markets, that up to that moment, the were unknown or the had such a small size that they were not considerable for this industry. This is the case of tinned fish, where olive oil was one of the most important inputs. This work has the following aims: first, to analyse the behaviour of Spanish olive oil in this market, paying attention to Norwegian tinned industry; second, to value the meaning of the companies and regions that take part; third, to compare the exports to this country with the exports to more important markets for Spanish olive oil.

El título original de este trabajo, según figuraba en el programa del Curso de Verano que la Universidad de Oviedo dedicó el pasado año a la conmemoración del veinte aniversario de la publicación de la obra España hace un siglo: una economía dual, del profesor Sánchez-Albornoz, era el de «Bancos y Banqueros en la España del siglo XIX», pero para expresar de una manera más gráfica mi modesto homenaje particular al autor y a su obra, me voy a permitir alterarlo tomando como método de análisis, o mejor dicho, de ruptura, el lema de la obra que es objeto de conmemoración.

This article studies the possible effect that education may have upon entrepreneurial success. It uses two data bases, one for Spanish, the other for English entrepreneurs. By means of statistical and econometric analysis, we examine the effects on entrepreneurial behaviour of a series of variables, several relating to education. We compare the Spanish with the English sample. The main conclusions are: education indeed has a considerable bearing upon entrepreneurial success; this bearing is much more evident in the English than in the Spanish samples; both educational systems are quite different; and, lastly, family income seems to have little effect either on entrepreneurial success or on the studies of future entrepreneurs.

This article studies the evolution of the composition of shareholders in one of the big companies in Spain, Compañía del Norte, devoted to railways sector between 1858 and 1941. Changes in property and interests groups inside the company are identified along the time. We establish the implications that this changes had in the Board of Administration by using modern agency theory, and looking for how the corporate structure advanced within the company. This process is studied from a comparative point of view in Europe and United States. The French influence in property, management and power in BA is highlighted. Only at the beginning of the XX century, when First World War broke out, Spanish capital got the majority of shareholders and the company introduced and international management style. The Spanish General Managers started to recruit new executives from qualified staff preferably with the same nationality, introducing a new system between the managers. This meant a break with hierarchic and militar system imposed by French style. Finally we analyse the evolution of the organization of the company which grew up rapidly from line schemes into a more complex structure although without arriving at a multidivisional one.

Recent advances in historical national accounting have allowed for global comparisons of GDP per capita across space and time. Critics have argued that GDP per capita fails to capture adequately the multi-dimensional nature of welfare, and have developed alternative measures such as the human development index. Whilst recognising that these wider indicators provide an appropriate way of assessing levels of welfare, we argue that GDP per capita remains a more appropriate measure for assessing development potential, focussing on production possibilities and the sustainability of consumption. Twentieth-century Africa and pre-industrial Europe are used to show how such data can guide reciprocal comparisons to provide insights into the process of development on both continents.

Ultimamente, tanto para Mayo (1984, 1987) como para Salvatore y Brown (1987, 1989) —quicnes analizan la campiña del Río de la Plata en el siglo XVIII—, la clave del dilema de la formación del mercado de mano de obra rural, a diferencia de quienes, como Amaral (1985) y Gelman (1987, 1989), interpretaron que para retenerla era necesario endeudarla, no sólo residiría del lado de la demanda, específicamente el mercado del trigo, sino también del lado de la oferta. Esto ocurriría, según Mayo, Brown y Salvatore, debido al fácil acceso que dicha mano de obra tuvo a otras alternativas de subsistencia (contrabando de tabaco, abigeato, faenas clandestinas de cueros, etc.) y, en consecuencia, a diferentes medios de producción y subsistencia (caballos, ganados, tierra y provisiones como tabaco, sal y yerba), lo cual generó una suerte de superpoblación relativa, y a la consecuente irrelevancia o ineficacia que los mecanismos extraeconómicos tuvieron para retener y disciplinar dicha mano de obra.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the sources of growth of real product in the Spanish economy over the period 1964–1973. This is decomposed into five components: capital stock, quality of capital stock, hours worked, quality of hours worked and TFP. The methodology is based on the transcendental logarithmic production function and distinguishes growth in quality and quantity of inputs. We find that the main component of the growth in output is total factor productivity.

This paper analyses the role of Mompox in New Granada's interregional trade during the late colonial period. It focuses on the value, structure and destination of exports of domestic goods from Mompox to markets on the Atlantic and the Andes. By unearthing unexplored sources, this paper provides evidence that will help to understand, indirectly, some issues such as the nature and timing of economic growth, the degree of regional specialisation and, above all, the role of inland ports in the economic geography of the viceroyalty. The paper contends, first, that the region experienced a boom–bust cycle during the late colonial period. The export of domestic goods doubled between 1770 and 1800 but subsequently collapsed during the 1802-1809 years. Second, evidence suggests that the region experienced a process of market deepening and widening. Trade flows, then, played a larger role in shaping the economic history of the region than previously thought.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of the control of the exchange rate vellón-silver over the prices in the Castile Crown's short-run credit. It compares the official price rates with the prices signed in the credit contracts of foreign financiers during the first half of the XVII century. The paper uses concepts from the price control theory and research done on black markets. There are many evidences that suggest that the official rates did not work to control the price of precious metals. In fact, the Crown had to pay the costly real price of the silver when it needed. Nevertheless, this policy served to change the behaviour of the financiers in the markets.

The first long period of economic development of the Hieronymite Monastery of Guadalupe, probably the wealthiest in Spain during the early Modern Age, is analysed in this paper. The economic success of this monastic house was primarily based on the brilliant exploitation its rectors implemented of the Marian sanctuary of the Villuercas. The Hieronymite leaders achieved an increasing prestige and fame for the former through an efficient publicity system its main aim being the maximum diffusion of Our Lady's «miracles» by thousands of pilgrims who were attracted to Guadalupe by means of various incentives. At the same time, the economic directors of the «House» managed to widen and strengthen an efficient thick network of collectors throughout the Crown of Castile which annually collected a huge sum of money. In summary, the Monastery of Guadalupe was for over one and a half centuries a thriving «enterprise» of spiritual services.