In this paper we revive an old explanation for Gresham's law that rests on the trafficking of coins by moneychangers. Focusing on the late Middle Ages, we present material suggesting that moneychangers used their private information on money to make profit through billonnage and arbitrage operations. In both cases their activity led to the partial –sometimes total– disappearance of the undervalued coins.

This essay contends that Western Europe's economy started to grow at a more rapid pace than the rest of the World during the Early Modern or Late Medieval era. Using the latest quantitative information available it is argued that, between the years 1000 and 1820, GDP per head in Western Europe experienced a threefold increase whereas that of the rest of the World grew only 33 per cent. Among the factors responsible for this difference the author highlights the progress in navigation techniques, with its consequences on trade and the division of labour; the adoption of institutions that also favoured trade; the knowledge revolution which started during the Renaissance period; the political division of Europe, with its corollary of competition among states and enhanced freedom, as well as the development of individualism favoured by the Christian cultural tradition.

Historical studies show that the average height of Western European children began its secular growth in 1850 only after a period of decline and stagnation which had started around 1750. We argue that the initial downturn in heights is related to the demographic transition, and show that an extension of the neoclassical model of economic growth can explain the observed phenomena. We test whether the predictions of the model hold for a cross-section of contemporary countries, and we find that stature is indeed negatively associated with income per capita and fertility for countries with an income per capita below a given threshold. As a final exercise, we ask whether these cross-country estimates explain the improvement in children's height observed in the last hundred and fifty years.

This article has two objectives: to analyse a leading businessman, José Martínez Rivas, a distinguished leader of Biscayan industrialization, and to apply economic theory to his case for a better understanding of Spanish business history. The business life of Martinez Rivas and the evolution of his fortune has been reconstructed with archive sources. The article is divided into three parts. The first section examines the origins and first years of his main business activities. A second section describes the evolution and results in each of these. A third and final part, applies Schumpeterian entrepreneur theory to Martinez Rivas' business initiatives. The conclusions summarize the main contributions of this work and open a door to further related research and the theory applied.

In this paper trade to the interior of the Spanish Empire is analysed. Commodity prices during a 140 years span are described and the price convergence process between Spain and Peru, and between Peru and Chile is investigated. The main finding is that despite technological, trade and institutional improvements, price convergence between Spain and Peru was delayed by wars during the eighteenth century. Conversely, price convergence is found between Peru and Chile. The absence of wars in the Pacific Ocean can explain the difference in price behavior.

This article verifies the existence of three different and complementary geographies in the 1790–1830 period, a stage in the Catalan industrialization process that has deserved little attention among historians. The first one, of manual spinning by means of an improved jenny –locally named bergadana– in inner Catalonia; a second one of improved water-frame spinning in Manresa and the surrounding villages; and, finally, a third one of wood mule-jenny in Barcelona and some towns of the seaside district of the Maresme. These three areas were characterized by using distinctive power sources and producing different types of thread; they also had different wage levels; but they were complementary until the 1830's when the introduction of new mechanical instruments required important and innovative organization changes. The article ends with two analitical case studies: Salient as a typical example of manual spinning, and Manresa as a case of water frame spinning.

This article attempts to analyse the role that the Rothschild House played in the evolution of Spanish Public Finances along the 19th Century. Therefore, it endeavours to describe an elementary chronology of the relationships between the Spanish Government and the Rothschild House during the whole Century, analysing the main financial operations they underwrote, quantifying their annual aggregate figures and, finally, trying to comment upon the different consequences of the process above mentioned. To cover these aims, we have deployed original records from the Rothschild Archives in London and Paris, their contents having been supplemented with information from National Public Records in Spain and France, and other financial institutions, namely the Bank of Spain.

This paper analyses the evolution of Savings Banks in Spain during the last decades of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century. The effects of the regulation and public intervention are analysed, as well as the creation of corporative and representative organisms of Savings Banks. It also reviews the consolidation of the Savings Banks in the financial-banking system. The regional focus is applied to show the strategies used by these financial institutions, in order to understand their growth. Between 1880 and 1936 the Savings Banks played an important role in the financial domestic system, adapting their services to their clients' demands. In this way the Savings Banks confronted the private big banking sector in order to attract more clients, mainly middle and working classes in urban and rural areas. Finally Savings Banks became an important instrument of the social policy of governments, especially through the investment in public debt.

This article examines some effects of the political and military alliance between Spain and the United States on the Spanish business community in the 1950s and 1960s. The technical aid is taken to be the set of official programs and private contracts and investments that helped disseminate in Spain the techniques and ideas associated with the American model. The articulation process of the economic interests of the United States in Spain is quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. Our research reveals that technical aid and the pro-American circles formed around it, which were partially based on existing business relations, were essential to such process. The Spanish case shows therefore, first, that US foreign economic policy favoured, even if only indirectly, American business during the Cold War. Second, this work provides material and ideas to analyse the Spanish «miracle» as a rather exogenous growth process.

The historiography on Campomanes, in particular that referring to his writings on factory matters, has established a cliché of their anti-capitalistic or anti-industrial character. This appraisal, which can be traced back to a biased interpretation of his Discurso sobre el fomento de la industria popular, has secluded both the remaining doctrinal contributions on industry made by this author and the achievements of his proposed industrial policy. A more careful reading of his industrialist writings, adequately placed within their historical context, will no doubt contribute to discard platitudes and to rehabilitate one of the leading intellectuals of Spanish economy during the 18th century.

This paper analyses the role played by the National Commission for Industrial Productivity (CNPI) in the development of the Spanish footwear industry. First the nature of the Commission is reviewed highlighting its links with the «americanisation» campaign that took place in post-war Europe. Then, it is shown that footwear was one of the priority sectors for the CNPI, and the main initiatives developed by the organism in this industry in the years prior to the take off of exports are expounded. In third place, it is shown that the sector had already undergone a profound «americanisation» in Spain and in Europe in general during the first third of the 20th century. Lastly, the paper attempts to assess the effective repercussion of the CNPI's actions.

The Averly foundry in Saragossa is an enterprise belonging to the mechanical constructions branch. It opened in 1863 with eight workers, and by the end of the XlXth century it employed one hundred workers. This article tries to understand the labour policies developed by this family enterprise, as a function of its market outlook and its type of work organization, based on a division of jobs and tasks by qualifications. Looking at these policies, we consider this firm as an example of what is called «flexible specialization», with productions adapted to demands and customers' needs.

This article presents three new annual indices of industrial output for Andalusia, Catalonia and the Basque Country between 1830 and 1975. The comparative analysis, the first to include the Basque Country, allows to specify the main tendencies of growth and structural change in the regions studied, two of them pioneers of the Spanish industrialization, Andalusia clearly left behind. The analysis highlights as well the changes operated in the composition of their respective industrial products and, with them, the different regional paths, going from specialization to the manufacturing diversification, followed during the 19th and 20th centuries.

This article analyses the industrial activity of the French automobile company Renault during its first two decades in Spain. A first section examines the negotiations which concluded in the concession of the Spanish license and the establishment of a Spanish licensee society (FASA). A second part analyses the early years of FASA, in which it experienced a sustained growth overshadowed by product quality and management problems. We show how FASA's main phase of expansion coincided with the French head office's control, effective from 1964 on. The last part of the article summarizes some of the factors contributing to the success of Renault in Spain: such as adapting to local market conditions, establishing a certain degree of freedom in management and a more flexible export policy.

Stefan Houpt ha publicado recientemente en la Revista de Historia Económica un trabajo en el que sostiene que la siderurgia vasca fue competitiva en dos productos que no exigían demasiado carbón: lingote y carriles de acero1. Tras ello, plantea un conjunto de hipótesis sobre las razones por las que, pudiendo haber exportado grandes cantidades de ambos bienes, los empresarios prefirieron venderlos mayoritariamente en el mercado español. Trataré de demostrar que la siderurgia vizcaína no fue competitiva después de la generalización de los aceros básicos y que, por consiguiente, huelga cualquier hipótesis sobre por qué no se exportó más.

This paper analyzes the role of a very multifaceted lobby group, the Spanish Maritime League, in the context of the relationships between the economic and the political spheres during the first decade of the twentieth century. It specially focuses in the League's ability to influence three important economic variables of the period (public subsidies to the merchant fleet, the protectionist policy towards coal production, and the policies in naval production) as well as in the strategies followed by its leaders to move forward their proposals.

Debo admitir que me ha costado reconocer mi hipótesis de trabajo, su contraste y mis conclusiones tal y como aparecen reflejadas en la nota que publica Antonio Escudero en este número. Trataré en pocas líneas de centrar el debate de nuevo en el tema de mi artículo y explicar algunos de los aspectos que pueden haber llevado a una lectura confusa de mi investigación.

Argentinean economy historiography lacks consensus as to the periodization of its recent growth phases. A related open question is the date at which Argentinean economy ended its first major growth phase. For some economists this was a consequence of the First World War, whereas for others Argentina lost positions from the Great Depression on. The aim of this paper is to contrast these views. We apply univariate analysis and unit root contrasts to the now available Argentinean GDP per capita series. The results point at 1913 as the first important break in the trend, whereas 1929 only represents a significant change in the intercept of the series. At the same time, this analysis defines three new long-term phases in the Argentinean growth process: 1875 to 1913, 1914 to 1974, and 1975 to 2000.

Estamos ante un libro largamente esperado y que representa la culminación de una línea de investigación madurada a lo largo de toda una generación de investigadores en historia econòmica de España. Leandro Prados de la Escosura comenzó a manifestar su interés por la estimación de la renta nacional española desde los primeros trabajos que publicó. De hecho, todo su inicial interés investigador sobre el comercio exterior estaba íntimamente ligado a obtener estimaciones razonables del PIB por habitante español que permitieran delinear el grado de desarrollo –o de atraso– de la economía española en el siglo XIX largo –de 1780 a 1914, aproximadamente–. Podemos rastrear sus esfuerzos desde el inicio de su actividad investigadora. A principios del decenio de 1980 (1982 y 1984) ya presentó diversas estimaciones procedentes de un análisis detallado de las cifras propuestas por M. G. Mulhall en pleno siglo XIX. En trabajos sucesivos se fue atreviendo a ampliar y sistematizar sus estimaciones.

El Atlas de la Industrialización de España 1750–2000 representa un acontecimiento a partir del cual será necesario reconsiderar las publicaciones sobre la integración histórica de la industria española en la evolución de la industrialización europea. Ni en Francia, ni tampoco en la literatura científica alemana o inglesa, encuentra esta obra un equivalente. Se trata de una publicación de referencia ineludible para todos aquellos, desde los académicos y estudiantes hasta el «gran público informado», que quieran o necesiten una visión informada global y sintética de la relación entre el pasado y el futuro de la economía española.