Continuities and discontinuities in the economic growth of Spain: 1850-1936

The Spanish pattern of economic growth during the last two centuries is quite unique. In the nineteenth century, Spain remained outside the process of industrialization, but during the twentieth century it has joined the small group of developed economies. This article checks the possible existence of discontinuities between 1850-1936 in the series of PNB, industrial production and private and public investment by utilizing recent developments in the econometric analysis associated with the work of Perron and Ziwot and Andrews. The results confirm the continuity of the Spanish growth during the long period considered. However, they also show two breakpoint years: 1870 in the series of industrial production and 1919 in the data of public investment. El crecimiento económico en España durante los dos últimos siglos, ha sido un proceso singular. Durante el siglo XIX su economía quedó al margen del proceso de industrialización, pero durante el XX ha conseguido incorporarse al reducido grupo de los países desarrollados. Aprovechando algunos de los recientes avances de la econometría asociados a los trabajos de Perron y Ziwot y Andews, este artículo contrasta, para la etapa 1850-1936, la posible existencia de rupturas en las series de PNB, producción industrial e inversión pública y privada. Los resultados confirman la continuidad básica del crecimiento económico español en el largo plazo. Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, muestran dos rupturas estadísticamente significativas: 1870 en la serie de producción industrial y 1919 en la de inversión pública.Crecimiento económico, continuidad, 1850-1939 Economic growth, continuity, 1850-1939

The capital stock of the Spanish economy 1900-1958

This paper provides an estimate of the Spanish stock of physical capital between 1900 and 1958 in 1990 constant pesetas. The series is directly based on the progress made by the quantitative economic history in Spain during the last decade. An additional contribution of the paper is to present the capital/product and capital/labor ratio trends during the period considered. El documento ofrece una estimación del stock de capital físico español durante el periodo 1900-1958 en pesetas constantes de 1990. La serie se basa directamente en el progreso en España de la historia económica cuantitativa durante la última década. Una contribución adicional del trabajo es la presentación de las tendencias de las ratios capital/producto y capital/trabajo del periodo considerado.Stock de capital, acumulación de capital, inventario perpetuo Capital stock, capital accumulation, perpetual inventory

Gasto público y crecimiento económico en la Restauración (1874-1923)

Las aportaciones más recientes sobre la importancia del Estado en el crecimiento de la economía española durante la Restauración han señalado la reducida relevancia que el gasto público tenía en la determinacion de la renta nacional. En este articulo se discute tal afirmación llegando a la conclusión de que tal afirmación infravaloraba la verdadera importancia del presupuesto, principalmente en relación con la producción industrial. Mediante la utilización de métodos econométricos se analiza la relevancia de las variaciones en los diferentes componentes del presupuesto en la variación de la producción nacional.The most tecent contributions on the relevance of the State in the growth of the Spanish economy during the Restoration have remarked the limited significance that public expenditure had in dte determination of the natioiud income. Iliis article discusses that opinión conduding that the actual imporunce of the budget, espcdally reUted with industrial output, was underrated. We use econometric methods to capture the consequences of budget different componenls variations on national [email protected]

EL STOCK DE CAPITAL PRODUCTIVO DE LA ECONOMÍA ESPAÑOLA. 1900-1990

This paper is founded in a previous estimation of the stock of capital of theSpanish economy incorporating two new developments. First, this new estimation is anestimation of the directly productive capital stock of the Spanish economy, whosepurpose is to know its productive capacity. Second, the goal is to compare the amountof capital of the Spanish economy with diverse indicators of capitalisation of sixwestern countries for the period from 1900 to 1990. The main conclusions of thisexercise are the intense capitalisation that the Spanish economy during the Twentiethcentury, with special mention to the inter-war period and the remarkable expansion ofthe stock of capital of the Sixties and the process of convergence that has taken placebetween the ratios of capital by worker and capital by product between the Spanisheconomy and the main developed countries. Este trabajo es continuación de una estimación anterior del stock de capital realizada por los mismos autores incorporando dos novedades. En primer lugar se trata de una estimación del stock de capital directamente productivo de la economía española, cuya finalidad es conocer su capacidad productiva. En segundo lugar, el objetivo último es proceder a una comparación de los niveles de capitalización de la economía española en comparación con los países occidentales, por lo que la estimación obtenida es comparada con diversos indicadores de capitalización de seis países para el período de 1900 a 1990. Las principales conclusiones obtenidas de este ejercicio son la intensa capitalización que ha realizado la economía española durante el siglo XX, con especial mención al período de entreguerras y a la notable expansión del stock de capital de los años sesenta y el proceso de convergencia que se ha producido entre las dotaciones de capital por trabajador y capital por producto entre la economía española y los principales países desarrollados.Stock de capital, convergencia, economía española. Capital stock, convergence, Spanish economy.

El coste de uso del capital en la explicación del boom de la inversión europea de posguerra

Post-war Europe provides an opportunity to study the importance of relative prices of capital, and the user cost of capital in particular, in explaining the convergence in investment rates between countries of similar “social capabilities” and income levels. After Second World War, at time as a new international order was established, European countries experienced a rapid process of income growth and convergence. In the interpretation of this process a prominent role has been attributed to technological progress and “catch-up” to the technological leader, the United States. Investment decisions are the way for embodying new technological progress, but investment takes place only when incentive exists. Among these incentives, recent empirical literature on economic growth highlights the role of relative prices of capital in explaining differences in investment rates and income growth between countries with very different income levels. But when we reduce the sample to countries closed in income levels and “social capabilities”, we can demonstrate that, although the relative cost of capital converged over time and could help to explain income convergence, other factors were more significant in explaining the increase in investment rates. More important than the user cost of capital in the investment decision, was general prosperity caused by the demand increase.

El coste de uso del capital en la explicación del boom de la inversión europea de posguerra.

Post-war Europe provides an opportunity to study the importance of relative prices of capital, and the user cost of capital in particular, in explaining the convergence in investment rates between countries of similar "social capabilities" and income levels. After Second World War, at time as a new international order was established, European countries experienced a rapid process of income growth and convergence. In the interpretation of this process a prominent role has been attributed to technological progress and "catch-up" to the technological leader, the United States. Investment decisions are the way for embodying new technological progress, but investment takes place only when incentive exists. Among these incentives, recent empirical literature on economic growth highlights the role of relative prices of capital in explaining differences in investment rates and income growth between countries with very different income levels. But when we reduce the sample to countries closed in income levels and "social capabilities", we can demonstrate that, although the relative cost of capital converged over time and could help to explain income convergence, other factors were more significant in explaining the increase in investment rates. More important than the user cost of capital in the investment decision, was general prosperity caused by the demand increase.

La continuidad del crecimiento económico en España: 1850-1936

El crecimiento de la economía española durante los siglos XDC y xx ha sido en gran medida singular. Mientras en el siglo XDí España permaneció al margen del proceso de industrialización, durante el siglo xx se ha unido al reducido grupo de los países desarrollados. Este artículo contrasta para la etapa 1850-1936 la existencia de rupturas dentro de este proceso, aplicando diferentes tests econométricos asociados a los trabajos de Perron y de Zivot y Andrews, a las series de PNB, producción industrial e inversión. Los resultados confirman una continuidad básica en el crecimiento español. Sin embargo, muestran también la existencia de dos cambios de nivel: 1870 para la producción industrial y 1919 en la inversión pública.The Spanish pattern of economic growth during the last two centuries is quite unique. In the nineteenth century the country remained outside the process of industrialization, but during the twentieth century he has joined the smaU group of developed economies. This artide tests the existence of discontinuities between 1850-1936 in the seríes of PNB, industríal production and prívate and public investment by utilizing recent developments in the econometríc analysis associated with the work of Perron and Zivot and Andrews. The resuhs confírm the continuity of the Spanish growth duríng the decades considered. However, they also show two breakpoint years: 1870 in the serie of industríal production and 1919 in the data of public [email protected]; [email protected]

El coste de uso del capital en la explicación del boom de la inversión europea de posguerra

Post-war Europe provides an opportunity to study the importance of relative prices of capital, and the user cost of capital in particular, in explaining the convergence in investment rates between countries of similar "social capabilities" and income levels. After Second World War, at time as a new international order was established, European countries experienced a rapid process of income growth and convergence. In the interpretation of this process a prominent role has been attributed to technological progress and "catch-up" to the technological leader, the United States. Investment decisions are the way for embodying new technological progress, but investment takes place only when incentive exists. Among these incentives, recent empirical literature on economic growth highlights the role of relative prices of capital in explaining differences in investment rates and income growth between countries with very different income levels. But when we reduce the sample to countries closed in income levels and "social capabilities", we can demonstrate that, although the relative cost of capital converged over time and could help to explain income convergence, other factors were more significant in explaining the increase in investment rates. More important than the user cost of capital in the investment decision, was general prosperity caused by the demand increase