Amartya Sen revisited: trade, inequality and growth in central Spain, 1700-1800

This paper studies the effects of trade and inequality in central Spain during the eighteenth century, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara and the surrounding regions. The first part of the paper presents a specific factors model as theoretical framework that will later be applied to the empirical data. The second part introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the eighteenth century and concludes that inequality decreased, especially during the last third of the century. Finally the paper addresses this unexpected result and concludes that it was consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups. Following Sen’s ideas, the reduction in inequality meant that markets could work properly and that a majority and not only a few could take full advantage of the benefits of trade.Trade, Inequality, Pressure groups, Institutions

Income inequality in central Spain, 1690-1800

This paper studies the evolution of income inequality in central Spain during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara. The first part of the paper presents the sources and the dataset that was created to estimate income inequality using grain tithes. The second section shows that through the period grain represented the lion share of total income and therefore that it can be used as a reliable proxy. The following part of the paper introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the period 1690-1800 and concludes that inequality decreased during the last third of the eighteenth century. Finally the paper addresses this unexpected result and concludes that it was consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups.Agrarian history, Inequality, Pressure groups, Institutions

Income inequality in central Spain, 1690-1800.

This paper studies the evolution of income inequality in central Spain during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara. The first part of the paper presents the sources and the dataset that was created to estimate income inequality using grain tithes. The second section shows that through the period grain represented the lion share of total income and therefore that it can be used as a reliable proxy. The following part of the paper introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the period 1690 1800 and concludes that inequality decreased during the last third of the eighteenth century. Finally the paper addresses thisunexpected result and concludes that itwas consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara, thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups.Agrarian history; Inequality; Pressure groups; Institutions;

Tithe series and grain production in modern Spain: Guadalajara 1700-1800

The following paper presents original tithe series for the province of Guadalajara in New Castile. The series include the four main grains, wheat, barley, rye and oats and their evolution during the eighteenth century. The series complete previous estimations of grain production for New Castile and suggest that the eighteenth century was a period of growth. However the increase was not a sustained process, but one with intense imbalances with production reaching its peak in the mid 1750s followed by a deep crisis and very weak recovery. Wheat was clearly the most important of the four grains in volume and especially in value. Its predominance was maintained thanks to a demand encouraged by the demographic that took place during the eighteenth century. A comparison with other tithe series from the interior of Spain reveals similarities like the crisis of the late 1750s.Tithe, Agricultural output, Spain

A Transformation-based Implementation for CLP with Qualification and Proximity

Uncertainty in logic programming has been widely investigated in the last decades, leading to multiple extensions of the classical LP paradigm. However, few of these are designed as extensions of the well-established and powerful CLP scheme for Constraint Logic Programming. In a previous work we have proposed the SQCLP (proximity-based qualified constraint logic programming) scheme as a quite expressive extension of CLP with support for qualification values and proximity relations as generalizations of uncertainty values and similarity relations, respectively. In this paper we provide a transformation technique for transforming SQCLP programs and goals into semantically equivalent CLP programs and goals, and a practical Prolog-based implementation of some particularly useful instances of the SQCLP scheme. We also illustrate, by showing some simple-and working-examples, how the prototype can be effectively used as a tool for solving problems where qualification values and proximity relations play a key role. Intended use of SQCLP includes flexible information retrieval applications.Comment: 49 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, preliminary version of an article of the same title, published as Technical Report SIC-4-10, Universidad Complutense, Departamento de Sistemas Inform\'aticos y Computaci\'on, Madrid, Spai

Provincial grain yields in Spain, 1750-2009

This paper estimates the yields for five grains in 33 provinces of Spain in the mid-18th century. The results show that yields were higher in the north of the country, and that the most fertile provinces of Spain were not far behind the most advanced agricultural regions of the world. Average wheat yields in Spain remained stagnant between 1750 and the late 19th century when they doubled, only to remain stagnant again until the modernisation of the primary sector in the 1960s. Our results show that, in the very long run, yields between provinces tended to converge, and this was the case until the 1960s when the traditional differences in provincial yields began to disappear. The use of artificial fertilisers or new wheat strains were key improvements that helped low yield provinces to break with severe natural constraints such as lack of rainfall or low-quality soils

Trapped by nature: provincial grain yields in Spain in the mid 18th century

This paper estimates original yields for five grains in thirty-three provinces of Spain in the mid-18(th) century. We observe a strong heterogeneity between the provinces with yields being considerably higher in the north of the country than in the south-east. Although average yields in Spain were below those in other countries of north-western Europe, the provinces in the north achieved yields not far behind the most advanced agricultural regions of the world. The heterogeneity of yields across Spain can be explained by the different climatic conditions in each province. Although all the provinces improved their yields in the long term, the differences between the provinces remained stable until the modernisation of Spanish agriculture around the mid-20(th) century.Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad project «Bienestar y desigualdad en una sociedad preindustrial: España, 1500-1800» ECO2012-38028 is acknowledged

Tithe series and grain production in modern Spain : Guadalajara 1700-1800

The following paper presents original tithe series for the province of Guadalajara in New Castile. The series include the four main grains, wheat, barley, rye and oats and their evolution during the eighteenth century. The series complete previous estimations of grain production for New Castile and suggest that the eighteenth century was a period of growth. However the increase was not a sustained process, but one with intense imbalances with production reaching its peak in the mid 1750s followed by a deep crisis and very weak recovery. Wheat was clearly the most important of the four grains in volume and especially in value. Its predominance was maintained thanks to a demand encouraged by the demographic that took place during the eighteenth century. A comparison with other tithe series from the interior of Spain reveals similarities like the crisis of the late 1750s

Amartya Sen revisited : trade, inequality and growth in central Spain, 1700-1800

This paper studies the effects of trade and inequality in central Spain during the eighteenth century, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara and the surrounding regions. The first part of the paper presents a specific factors model as theoretical framework that will later be applied to the empirical data. The second part introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the eighteenth century and concludes that inequality decreased, especially during the last third of the century. Finally the paper addresses this unexpected result and concludes that it was consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups. Following Sen’s ideas, the reduction in inequality meant that markets could work properly and that a majority and not only a few could take full advantage of the benefits of trade