Tracing the Evolution of Agglomeration Economies: Spain, 1860-1991

This article attempts to quantify how the effect of agglomeration economies on population growth has evolved over time. Using district population in Spain between 1860 and 1991, recorded approximately every decade, this article examines whether initial population affects subsequent population growth. Our results show that, while the relationship between these two variables hardly existed during the second half of the 19th century, this link increased significantly between 1910 and 1970, although this trend was abruptly interrupted by the Civil War and the autarkic period that followed. The intensity of this relationship debilitated in the 1970s, a process that continued during the 1980s as rural out-migration diminished and de-industrialisation hit traditional manufacturing sectors. Our findings also stress that agglomeration economies were stronger in medium-size districts, especially from 1960 onwards, thus suggesting that congestion costs began to mitigate the benefits arising from agglomeration economies in the largest locations

Why did Spanish Regions not Converge before the Civil War? Agglomeration Economies and (Regional) Growth Revisited

In this paper we explore the relationship between the presence of agglomeration economies and regional economic growth in Spain during the period 1870-1930. The study allows us to revisit the existence of a trade-off between economic growth and territorial cohesion, and also to examine whether the existence of agglomeration economies could explain the upswing in regional income inequality during the early stages of development. In doing so, we present alternative indicators for agglomeration economies and estimate conditional growth regressions at province (NUTS3) level. In line with new economic geography models, agglomeration economies in a context of market integration widened regional inequality in the second half of the 19th century and hindered its reduction during the early decades of the 20th.En este artículo se analiza la existencia de una relación entre la presencia de economías de aglomeración y el crecimiento económico regional en España durante el periodo 1870-1930. El estudio permite revisitar la existencia de un trade-off entre crecimiento económico y cohesión territorial y, además, examinar si las economías de aglomeración fueron un elemento clave a la hora de explicar el incremento de la desigualdad económica regional en España a lo largo de las primeras fases del desarrollo. Para ello, se presentan diferentes indicadores de aglomeración a nivel provincial (NUTS3) que posteriormente se incluyen en la estimación de regresiones de crecimiento condicionadas. En la línea de los modelos de Nueva Geografía Económica (NEG), sugerimos que la presencia de economías de aglomeración en un contexto de integración de mercado favoreció la aparición de una causación acumulativa que amplió la desigualdad regional en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y dificultó su reducción durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX.Authors acknowledge financial support from the MINECO project ECO2012-39169-CO3-02

The origins of economic growth and regional income inequality in South-West Europe 1870-1950

This study focuses on South-West Europe, an area comprising France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, to evaluate inequality in regional income between 1870 and 1950. To do this, information on a decadal basis on regional population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 171 regions (84 French départements, 22 Italian regioni, 18 Portuguese distritos and 49 Spanish provincias) has been collected. Regional inequalities increased between 1870 and 1910 but subsequently tended to flatten out through until 1950. In the first period, regional disparities increased mainly driven by a handful of French and Spanish regions in northern France, such as the Paris basin, Catalonia, the Basque-Country and northern Italy. In the second period, inequality flattened out, driven by the incorporation of new regions on the path of modern economic growth. The study also shows the evolution towards a bimodal, polarized pattern of regional income distribution in 1910-1950 with two convergence clubs. The richest regions were clustering in northern France, the Paris basin and the north of Italy. Meanwhile, most of southern Italy and the vast majority of the Spanish and Portuguese regions already occupied the bottom positions in the income distribution ranking. This point to the emergence of the core-periphery pattern that characterizes much of South-West Europe today

The Shadow of Cities: Size, Location and the Spatial Distribution of Population in Spain

Using a large data set on the population of Spanish municipalities between 1877 and 2001, this paper analyses how their initial size and the presence of neighbouring urban locations influence subsequent population growth and how these links have evolved over time. Our results show that initial size is negatively related to population growth, except in the 1960s and 1970s when this relationship becomes positive. Likewise, the presence of neighbouring urban locations limited local population growth in the late 19th century, a negative effect that persisted, but at a diminishing rate, until the second half of the 20th century. The influence of nearby cities became increasingly positive from then onwards, and especially so during the 1970s

The long-term relationship between economic development and regional inequality: South-West Europe, 1860-2010

This paper analyses the long-term relationship between regional inequality and economic development. Our data set includes information on national and regional per capita GDP for four countries: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, compiled on a decadal basis for the period 1860–2010. Using parametric and semiparametric regressions, our results confirm the rise and fall of regional inequalities over time although in recent decades they are on the rise again. Finally, we identify structural change as being a significant transmission mechanism of the inverted-U relationship. The arrival of technological shocks, beginning during the onset of industrialization, and the transition from agrarian to industrial economies, would explain this result

The roots of land inequality in Spain

There is a high degree of inequality in land access across Spain. In the South, and in contrast to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula, economic and political power there has traditionally been highly concentrated in the hands of large landowners. Indeed, an unequal land ownership structure has been linked to social conflict, the presence of revolutionary ideas and a desire for agrarian reform. But what are the origins of such inequality? In this paper we quantitatively examine whether geography and/or history can explain the regional differences in land access in Spain. While marked regional differences in climate, topography and location would have determined farm size, the timing of the Reconquest, the expansion of the Christian kingdoms across the Iberian Peninsula between the 9th and the 15th centuries at the expense of the Moors, influenced the type of institutions that were set up in each region and, in turn, the way land was appropriated and distributed among the Christian settlers. To analyse the effect of these two factors, we rely on the number of farm labourers for all 471 Spanish districts (partidos judiciales) using the information contained in the 1860 Population Census. In line with various classic works, our results show that although geographic factors did play a role, the institutional setting that arose from the Reconquest is key in explaining the unequal distribution of land in Spain, particularly in the former territories of the Kingdom of Castile

A closer look at the long-term patterns of regional income inequality in Spain: the poor stay poor (and stay together)

This paper explores regional (NUTS3) income inequality in Spain, 1860-2010. Using a novel dataset spanning 150 years, we analyse the evolution of inequality in regional per-capita GDP. To do this, we follow the growth literature and use spatial exploratory tools. Our aim is to understand not only the long-term evolution as regards convergence or dispersion, but also aspects related to income distribution, i.e. modality, mobility and spatial clustering. We therefore use tools such as kernel density estimates, boxplots, transition probability matrices, Shorrocks indices, Kendall's !, Moran's I and LISA maps. The main finding is that there were two clearly distinguishable periods in the economic development process. First, there was an upswing in regional inequality accompanied by a certain mobility between 1860 and 1930. This was followed by a period of regional convergence lasting until the 1980's, in which mobility in income class or rank was rather low. As a result, spatial clustering became more significant and income distribution was transformed. Decreasing regional inequality was thus accompanied by a geographical concentration of the richest and poorest regions. While wealthy Spain was located in the north-east, poor Spain was in the south, particularly the south-west. Mobility has also been virtually non-existent in recent decades. All in all, the study shows the importance of history in the shaping of Spain's regional income distribution

The uneven transition towards universal literacy in Spain, 1860-1930

This study provides new evidence on the advance of literacy in Spain during the period 1860-1930. A novel dataset, built with historical information (over 8,000 municipalities) from the Spanish population censuses, enables us to describe this process in detail from the end of the Ancien Régime to the Second Republic. The study thus presents stylized facts at a very low level of geographic aggregation, thereby permitting a closer examination of the main patterns. Overall, spatial differences in literacy were sizeable during the whole nineteenth century. Furthermore, these disparities were only significantly reduced between 1900 and 1930 when the growing demand for these basic skills were met by a stronger government intervention

Lordships, state capacity and beyond: literacy rates in mid-nineteenth-century Valencia

In this article we explore the relationship between institutions and educational performance from a historical perspective. Relying on municipal-level information for the Spanish region of Valencia, our study explores the economic effects of the delegation of power during the ancien regime from the Crown to local elites through the establishment of lordships, compared to that remained under royal jurisdiction. We assess whether these lordships, in their late-eighteenth- century configuration, had an impact on male literacy rates in the mid-nineteenth century. We also analyse whether a negative differential effect emerged in areas that were mainly inhabited by Moriscos, populations who lived under particularly harsh conditions. In addition to this institutional diversity, we investigate whether the regulations governing the education system could have generated a negative effect due to a mismatch between the language of schooling (Spanish) and the population's language of use (Catalan). By isolating each of these effects, our findings show that literacy rates were consistently lower in Catalan-speaking lordships inhabited by Moriscos