From the independence of Brazil in 1822 down to the independence of the African colonies in 1975, successive Portuguese governments became engaged in maintaining, enlarging, developing and, ultimately, in defending an empire in Africa. The literature on the Portuguese African empire is largely concerned with discussing the economic and political motives behind imperial policy1. Thus, the evaluation of the costs and benefits of the empire for the metropolitan economy —or, for that matter, the colonial economies— has not received much attention. This paper attempts to provide some of the evidence necessary to conduct such an evaluation2.

This paper investigates the evolution of income inequality in Spain during its transition to democracy, suggesting a method for the correction of under-reporting of earnings and profits in the Household Budget Surveys’ data. The contribution is twofold: the methodological proposal, based on income-expenditure discrepancy and scaling-up to National Accounts, improves on previous work and can be useful for similar historical sources in other countries. Second, its application results in an alternative history of the distribution of income in this case, changing the levels and also the observed trend. Previous literature asserted a substantial equalisation, related to the democratisation process, while after the adjustment inequality in disposable income is shown to have been quite persistent.

El objetivo de este trabajo es limitado y modesto. Se trata tan sólo de ofrecer, elaboradas, las cifras de las exportaciones de tejidos de algodón en una etapa en la que las ventas al exterior tuvieron especial importancia para esta industria. Los principales rasgos de la producción algodonera española y la problemática general de su demanda han sido estudiados por destacados especialistas del tema, entre ellos, de forma destacada, por el profesor Jordi Nadal 1. Las cifras y las reflexiones que contiene este trabajo serán útiles únicamente para cuantificar y matizar cronológicamente un proceso que, en términos generales, ya ha sido correctamente estudiado y definido.

In this article we argue that Ming China had a fundamental impact on the rise and decline of the Spanish Empire. China's demand for silver was of such magnitude that private mining profits in the Spanish Empire remained high until about 1640. The decline of these profits led to abandon production. Spain faced a deepening financial crisis due to the fall of silver's value. The loss of purchasing power from the Crown's American enterprise was inevitable and the state's relentless pressure for increased taxation within Castile and elsewhere was mandatory in order to compensate for lost external purchasing power.

This paper discusses and documents a new data set of real wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and relatively skilled labour in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela (LA-6) over the period 1900-2011. Three interrelated aspects are examined: the wage growth record associated with periods dominated by a particular development strategy; developments in the wage share of income; and movements in skill premiums and their links with fundamentals. The key findings are: (i) the region’s unskilled wage rose by 147 per cent compared to rises of 254 per cent in the average wage and 440 per cent in income per worker (including both property and labour income); (ii) the average LA-6 wage share started a secular fall in the 1950s; (iii) skill premiums tended to peak during the middle decades of the 20th century, coinciding with the acceleration of industrialisation and the timing of the demographic transition. Movements in the terms of trade are broadly associated with both fluctuations and trends in wage premiums, though the direction of the link is country and time specific.

A vigorous Spanish wool manufacturing industry during die Ancient Regime coexisted with an active export trade of raw wool from Castile. While foreign producers exhibited a clear comparative advantage on high quality fabrics, specialization in medium and low quality goods allowed Castilian wool textile producers to successfully compete against European imports (many of diem made with Castilian wool) up to the XlXth century.

Durante el período de entreguerras, en el que la inestabilidad económica constituyó una de las principales preocupaciones de las sociedades occidentales, se llevaron a cabo importantes investigaciones sobre la historia de los precios. Gracias a los trabajos de Hamilton (1934 y 1947), el caso español no quedó al margen de ese impulso historiográfico. Posteriormente, los precios serían objeto de una atención preferente en Las crisis agrarias en la España moderna de Gonzalo Anes (1970). Este libro tuvo una gran influencia en las numerosas investigaciones de los setenta y ochenta sobre el sector agrario en la España del Antiguo Régimen. Sin embargo, en casi todos estos trabajos primó el interés por desvelar la evolución económica en el largo plazo, lo que indujo a fijarse primordialmente en la población, la producción agraria y la renta de la tierra, relegando a los precios a un papel secundario.

The power of the elites became the dominant explanation of the extension of the franchise and expansion of the provision of public services. Peru from 1876 to 1940 presents a contrasting case. Although restricting political participation through literacy requirements, Peru saw an increase in literacy and schooling. Nevertheless, the relative power of the national and local elites articulated the national policies resulting in unequal provision of education. Constrained political access of the economic minority, the indigenous population, translated into a widening gap in terms of educational attainment.

The aim of this work is to analyse the spatial distribution of the interregional migration in Spain during the period of economic development and structural change from the last decades of the XIXth century to 1930. The empirical approach reveals that a large part of migrants moved towards very close destinations. We also find that the spatial distribution of the internal migration shows a high spatial focusing, most in-migrants are moving selectively to only a few destinations while most out-migrants are leaving only a few origins. Finally, comparing with the less focused migration in 1960–1970, it is argued that these findings are related with the process of geographical concentration and the later dispersion of the Spanish economic development and employment opportunities during the XIX and XX centuries whose turning point is around 1950 or 1960.

Entre las características más sobresalientes de la revolución industrial en Europa destaca el crecimiento espectacular de las ciudades. Las implicaciones de este proceso de urbanización para la dinámica más amplia del comportamiento demográfico de las sociedades europeas de los siglos xix y xx son de una importancia fundamental para nuestra comprensión de los últimos dos siglos de historia europea. Parecería razonable suponer que el peso creciente de las ciudades condicionaba no sólo los comportamientos vitales de sus propios residentes, sino que funcionaba como catalizador de cambios en toda la sociedad. A fin de abordar esta cuestión, es preciso plantearse una serie de interrogantes acerca del papel desempeñado por las ciudades en la Europa de la revolución industrial. ¿Hasta qué punto tendieron a compensar los núcleos crecientes de población urbana, con niveles supuestamente inferiores de nupcialidad y fecundidad y superiores de mortalidad, a las tasas de crecimiento natural, claramente insostenibles, del mundo rural? ¿Fueron las poblaciones urbanas pioneras en la transitión demográfica o seguían un modelo similar al de las áreas rurales? (Livi Bacci, 1971: 102–111; Lesthaeghe, 1977: caps. 5 y 6; Knodel, 1974: 206–222). ¿En qué diferían estos comportamientos al ir creciendo la ciudad? ¿Influyeron o no las ciudades, y en qué medida, en las áreas rurales circundantes, de modo que no sólo habrían sido protagonistas de distintos modelos de comportamiento y cambio demográficos, sino que también agentes de cambio en las áreas rurales?

Traditional historical literature has stressed a generalised crisis throughout the world in the 17th century. First proposed for Europe with its numerous dynastic, religious and state conflicts, it has now been expanded to include Asia and the Middle East as well. It was also assumed that there was a significant crisis in the Americas, a theme which until recently has dominated the traditional literature. The claim that there was such a crisis was based on a series of classic studies by Earl J. Hamilton, Chaunu and Borah, among others. But new research has challenged this hypothesis and we will examine both these new studies as well as offering our own research findings on this subject.

The aim of this work is to study the foreign trade in agrarian products and foodstuffs during the period 1849–1935. To that end, we have first carried out an analysis of the evolution and composition of agrarian products imports, thereafter reflecting on the reasons which explain the U turn in policy which gave rise to protectionism in 1891 and its effects on these imports.

The second section concentrates on the tendency followed by agrarian exports, seeking to explain the causes for the changes to their make-up.

The work concludes with an attempt to study simultaneously the behaviour of agrarian exports and imports, in order to analyse both their mutual influence and their global effects over the totality of the Spanish economy.

The essay measures the fiscal costs and benefits of colonialism both for die Spanish American colonies and for Spain in the period 1760–1814 using new estimates of die annual transfers from die colonies to the metropolitan treasury. The various components of die fiscal benefits for die metropolis are analyzed, including not only die transfer of silver but also large shipments of tobacco leaf from Cuba. It is argued that die American contribution to the ordinary income of the Spanish government increased in absolute and relative terms in die period 1790–1810.

In order to understand Uruguay’s long-run economic evolution it becomes crucial to interpret its export performance during the First Globalization. The lack of accuracy of official figures, especially official prices used, calls for an adjustment of Uruguayan export series. We have used empirical evidence to test the accuracy of quantities and values of export records, first, according to import partners’ records and, second, according to international market prices. Results show a general undervaluation of official export values during the period along with severe distortions in the registers caused by transit trade. We reconstructed new Uruguayan export f.o.b values and an export price index which present a more unstable and less dynamic export evolution than that of neighbouring Argentina.

Latin America participated in the electric revolution which profoundly transformed the most developed Western economies between 1880 and 1930. The qualitative empirical evidence shows that Latin American electrification began with little delay compared to those economies. This article provides new quantitative evidence consisting of annual series about a reliable indicator of the degree of electrification of the Latin American nations. The database built shows that towards 1930 electricity consumption per inhabitant in Latin America was far below that of most advanced economies, and only Latin American leaders in the electrification process had reached power consumption levels similar to the European late comers. Unlike other newly industrializing economies, the region was not able to quickly incorporate new technology to overcome their backwardness.

This paper presents new statistical evidence on the long-term evolution of economic inequality in Portugal. Portuguese tax sources have been employed to estimate top income and wealth shares (TIS and TWS) from 1936 onwards. The new series shows that the Second World War had a negative and non-permanent effect on the evolution of TIS, but not on TWS, which increased until the mid 1950s. From the mid 1950s to the early 1980s, there was a sharp decline in TIS and TWS. Finally, during the 1990s, TIS increased again. The reasons behind the Portuguese distributive pattern seem to be more economic than political.

This article presents and analyses wholesale price series of Santa Fe (Argentina), an essential core of colonial commercial circuits, during the period 1700-1810. Mainly from monastic sources, the presented series include 14 products from local and regional origin. Production data has also been deflated using these indexes and purchasing power of wages has been measured. This allows studying inflation, deflation and standards of living and their relation to economic growth. Growth, even prior to trade liberalization of 1778, was matched by deflation so it may suggest improvements in mercantile circuits. This new evidence provides a solid tool for regional and international comparative analysis.

The system of multiple exchange rates for the peseta, in force between 1948 and 1959, has posed many problems for Spanish historiography, in that it implies that the price at which foreign transactions were carried out is unknown, being hidden in the dense foliage of special exchange rates. In this paper we estimate the various average exchange rates series for all the Balance of Payments of these years, thus filling the vacuum that the post-Civil War period represents in the history of the peseta. We also calculate the real effective exchange rate, concluding that the important devaluations of 1949–1951 and 1957–1959 were insufficient in order to achieve equilibrium between Spanish relative prices and those of its main trading partners, so that the peseta remained continuously over-valued throughout the 1940's and 1950's.

This article aims to discuss the social features of the landed nobility and the role of «rentier» landownership in the development of Valencian agriculture in the nineteenth-century. In the first part attention is paid to discuss the transformation of former feudal landlords into middle class landowners. The second part is devoted to the study of a family of the lower nobility and the simultaneous variety of economic roles of the family —who was at the same time mostly «rentier» and «entrepreneur»—, and tries to explain the logic of these criteria.

This article presents an serie of annual Spanish corporate's profits for the period 1880–1981. The index estimated represents very well Spanish big firms, and it provides for the first time annual measurement on profits for a very long period. The data suggests that profits experienced long trends and short-term fluctuations. Both movements are related with whole economy and industrial dynamics. The data equally suggests that profits fluctuations were extremely correlated with investment fluctuations.