Searching for the roots of retardation : Spain in European perspective, 1500-1850

This paper investigates when did retardation begin in Spain and examines the evidence on economic performance over three centuries. In contrast to earlier estimates that focus almost exclusively on Castilian agriculture we look at trends in urbanization as a measure of economic activity outside agriculture and construct new measures of agricultural and total output at regional and national levels. We find distinctive long-run behaviour across Spanish regions that reject the identification between Castile and Spain. We also provide new output estimates for six Western European countries that allow placing Spanish performance in comparative perspective. Two main findings are highlighted. At the time of her imperial expansion Spain appears to have a relatively affluent nation and, by the late sixteenth century, her income per head was only below the Low Countries’ and Italy’s. The roots of Spanish retardation lie in the seventeenth century and deepened during the early nineteenth century.Preindustrial Spain, Europe, Urbanization, Agriculture, Retardation

Oferta y demanda de deuda pública en Castilla : juros de alcabalas (1540-1740)

Número monográfico de: Estudios de Historia Económica, nº 55, 2009El objetivo de este trabajo no es abordar el impacto que tuvieron los juros en la evolución económica de Castilla, ni siquiera en las finanzas de la Monarquía, sino analizar el funcionamiento de este instrumento crediticio y su demanda desde una perspectiva a largo plazo: quiénes invirtieron en juros y por qué lo hiciero

Different paths to the modern state in Europe: the interaction between domestic political economy and interstate competition

Theoretical work on state formation and capacity has focused mostly on early modern Europe and on the experience of western European states during this period. While a number of European states monopolized domestic tax collection and achieved gains in state capacity during the early modern era, for others revenues stagnated or even declined, and these variations motivated alternative hypotheses for determinants of fiscal and state capacity. In this study we test the basic hypotheses in the existing literature making use of the large date set we have compiled for all of the leading states across the continent. We find strong empirical support for two prevailing threads in the literature, arguing respectively that interstate wars and changes in economic structure towards an urbanized economy had positive fiscal impact. Regarding the main point of contention in the theoretical literature, whether it was representative or authoritarian political regimes that facilitated the gains in fiscal capacity, we do not find conclusive evidence that one performed better than the other. Instead, the empirical evidence we have gathered lends supports to the hypothesis that when under pressure of war, the fiscal performance of representative regimes was better in the more urbanized-commercial economies and the fiscal performance of authoritarian regimes was better in rural-agrarian economie

Is prolonged infusion of piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem in critically ill patients associated with improved pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic and patient outcomes? An observation from the Defining Antibiotic Levels in Intensive care unit patients (DALI) cohort

Objectives:We utilized the database of the Defining Antibiotic Levels in Intensive care unit patients (DALI) study to statistically compare the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic and clinical outcomes between prolonged-infusion and intermittent-bolus dosing of piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem in critically ill patients using inclusion criteria similar to those used in previous prospective studies.Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a prospective, multicentre pharmacokinetic point-prevalence study (DALI), which recruited a large cohort of critically ill patients from 68 ICUs across 10 countries.Results: Of the 211 patients receiving piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem in the DALI study, 182 met inclusion criteria. Overall, 89.0% (162/182) of patients achieved the most conservative target of 50% fT(> MIC) (time over which unbound or free drug concentration remains above the MIC). Decreasing creatinine clearance and the use of prolonged infusion significantly increased the PTA for most pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic targets. In the subgroup of patients who had respiratory infection, patients receiving beta-lactams via prolonged infusion demonstrated significantly better 30 day survival when compared with intermittent-bolus patients [86.2% (25/29) versus 56.7% (17/30); P=0.012]. Additionally, in patients with a SOFA score of >= 9, administration by prolonged infusion compared with intermittent-bolus dosing demonstrated significantly better clinical cure [73.3% (11/15) versus 35.0% (7/20); P=0.035] and survival rates [73.3% (11/15) versus 25.0% (5/20); P=0.025].Conclusions: Analysis of this large dataset has provided additional data on the niche benefits of administration of piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem by prolonged infusion in critically ill patients, particularly for patients with respiratory infections

Incentivos económicos y derechos de propiedad en la Castilla del siglo XVI

The traditional literature about the Castilian agriculture has interpreted the sale of "baldíos" as one of the main causes of the Castile's decline at the end of the sixteenth century. This paper explains how Castile entered in decadence not because "baldíos" were sold, but because they existed from the fifteenth century onward. Instead of seeing exclusively the new costs faced by farmers after the sale of "baldíos", this paper pays more attention to the effects of this institution for the agrarian sector and the whole economy. "Baldíos" was an agrarian institution that helped to increase production through expansion of land and labor. The Monarchy was its owner but it did not enforce its property rights until 1570s. Without the real enforcement of property rights, "baldíos" allowed peasants to expand their plowing area without commensurate payment. It was a strong incentive to increase factor land and labor in the countryside instead of investment in technology and productivity.Tradicionalmente se ha venido considerando que la venta de tierras "baldías" llevada a cabo por la Corona a finales del siglo XVI fue una de las principales causas de la decadencia de Castilla. La razón es que ese proceso de ventas endeudó a muchos campesinos o les expulsó de la actividad agraria. Este trabajo plantea el problema desde una perspectiva distinta. El origen de la crisis pudo no estar en la venta de los "baldíos", sino la existencia de este tipo de tierras al comenzar la expansión agraria. Los baldíos incentivaron el aumento de la producción sobre tierras marginales porque, aunque la Corona era su dueña, no ejerció sus derechos de propiedad sobre ellas hasta la década de 1570. Durante décadas, el uso de baldíos apenas tuvo un coste para los campesinos. Los baldíos fueron un poderoso incentivo para aumentar el uso del factor tierra, en detrimento de otros factores; o para primar un crecimiento extensivo en lugar de mejorar la productividad

La evaluación de la condición corporal como metodología preferente para la estimación del estado de engrasamiento en vacas lecheras

Reconocida la importante repercusión del estado de engrasamiento de las vacas lecheras sobre su rendimiento lechero y reproductivo y sobre su estado general de salud, planteamos en este trabajo la revisión y valoración de diferentes alternativas para la estimación de dicho estado. Se analizan, por una parte, ecuaciones de predicción con distintos rasgos corporales como variables independientes. No obstante su exactitud predictora, generan dudas a causa de su inevitable aplicación diferida, de ahí que las estimaciones resultantes hayan de tomarse con cierta precaución. Por otro lado, aceptando la equivalencia entre estado de engrasamiento y condición corporal, se abordan distintos modelos desarrollados para la evaluación de dicha condición, señalando el que a nuestro juicio mejor reúne los requisitos para su aplicación y puesta en práctica a nivel de campo

Asientos as sinews of war in the composite superpower of the 16th century

International audienceThe full analysis of the text of a contract, asiento, between Philip II of Spain and a Genoese merchant–banker details how in this pre-modern composite state, merchant–bankers acted as agents of the Crown who gathered many scattered sources of income to the Crown and transformed them into large and regular cash flows, mesadas, for the army. Because of the uncertain availability of these sources, the contract provided flexibility to both parties and legal assistance to the banker who reported to accountants for audit and, if necessary, the charge of an interest at about 1 percent per month