The choice of tecnology in the Mediterranean basin : some evidence from the Spanish, Italian, British and us cotton mills(1830-1860).

This paper is motivated by the attempt to understand the choice of technology in the cotton mills in the Mediterranean basin from 1830 to 1861. In the period before the I cotton famine I, alternative technological choices were relatively important. However, these technology alternatives cannot be interpreted without consideration heterogeneity of cotton cloth. In other words, to produce the different kinds of cotton cloth it was employed a particular amount of physical and human capital, labour, energy and raw cotton. Moreover, some types of machinery were more adept than others in the production of some kinds of cotton goods. Thus, this paper argues that the choice of product and machinery was intimately connected with the availability of skilled labour and relative factor prices in this early period of the factory-based cotton industry.Human capital; Quality choice; Factor endowments;

Subcontracting and vertical integration in the Spanish cotton industry.

This paper examines changes in the organization of the Spanish cotton industry from 1720 to 1860 in its core region of Catalonia. As the Spanish cotton industry adopted the most modern technology and experienced the transition to the factory system, cotton spinning and weaving mills became increasingly vertically integrated. Asset specificity more than other factors explained this tendency towards vertical integration. The probability for a firm of being vertically integrated was higher among firms located in districts with high concentration ratios and rose with size and the use of modern machinery. Simultaneously, subcontracting predominated in other phases of production and distribution where transaction costs appears to be less important

Subcontracting and vertical integration in the Spanish cotton industry.

This paper examines changes in the organization of the Spanish cotton industry from 1736 to 1860 in its core region of Catalonia. As the Spanish cotton industry adopted the most modern technology available and experienced the transition to the factory system, cotton spinning and weaving mills became increasingly vertically integrated. Asset specificity, more than other factors, explains this tendency towards vertical integration. The probability of a firm being vertically integrated was higher among firms located in districts with high concentration ratios, and rose with size and the use of modern machinery. At the same time, subcontracting predominated in other phases of production and distribution, where transaction costs appear to be less importantSubcontracting; Cotton industry; Vertical integration; Catalonia; Spain;

Why Isn’t the Whole of Spain Industrialized? New Economic Geography and Early Industrialization, 1797-1910.

Spain provides an opportunity to study the causes of regional differences in industrial development over the nineteenth century. As transportation costs decreased and barriers to domestic trade were eliminated, Spanish manufacturing became increasingly concentrated in a few regions. This article combines Heckscher-Ohlin and economic geography frameworks and finds that comparative-advantage and increasingreturn effects were economically very significant and practically explained all differences in industrialization levels across regions. The deficits of some regions in terms of industrialization appear to have been largely attributable to their factor endowments and the absence of home-market effects for modern industries

Human capital and institutions : a long-run view [book review].

Capital humano; Recursos humanos; Formación del personal; Desarrollo económico;

Land markets and agrarian backwardness (Spain, 1900-1936)

To what extent were land markets the cause of Spanish agrarian backwardness? This paper uses new provincial data on average real land prices, together with provincial level variation in land productivity, to analyse land markets efficiency. To address this unresolved issue, we test whether land markets were spatially integrated and whether their prices can be explained with the present value model. Our results suggest that land prices converged across provinces and that variations were driven by fundamentals. In consequence, we conclude that institutional failure in land markets was not the cause of the relatively poor productivity performance of Spanish agricultur

Regional wage convergence in Spain : 1850-1930

Real wages PPP adjusted are used to analyse labour market integration in Spain. In contrast to earlier research analysing migration and nominal wages rates, our research seems to indicate that a well-integrated labour market had emerged in Spain by 1914 and substantial wage convergence happened from 1850 to 1914 with low rates of interna l migration. The shock of World War I and the subsequent globalisation backlash appear to disrupt this integrated market provoking a spectacular increase in wage differentials across regions and provinces. However, real wage convergence across Spanish provinces resumed powerfully over 1920s, this time accompanied by high internal migrations

Prosperity and depression in the European economy and during interwar years (1913-1950) : an introduction.

We survey aggregate growth in a sample of 27 European countries during the interwar period. We discuss the available data, possible explanations for a slowdown in growth rates and test the explanatory power of several hypotheses put forward in the literature.Aggregate Growth; Interwar Period; Europe;

La competitividad internacional de la industria algodonera española (1830-1860)

Los novísimos en la Historia Económica de España. Edición a cargo de Francisco Comín y Blanca Sánchez AlonsoEditada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaCon el fin de explicar las grandes diferencias de precios entre los tejidos de algodón británicos y españoles, este articulo se ocupa de medir el coste de las materias primas y estimar los niveles de productividad total de los factores (PTF) en ambos países. Ambos cálculos sugieren una relación directa entre la falta de competitividad internacional de la industria española y los altos niveles de protección. Así, a lo largo del artículo se demuestra que la especialización inadecuada, que fue una consecuencia directa de los altos aranceles, redujo los niveles de eficiencia en España porque las fábricas locales producían bienes demasiado sofisticados para las habilidades de su fuerza de trabajo.To explain the large differences in prices between Spanish and British cotton goods I measure the relative cost of raw materials and estímate relative TFP levels. Both calculations lead to a relation between Spain's poor performance in International markets and high levels of protection. Thus, I find that inadequate specialization, which was consequence of high tariffs, reduced TFP levels in Spain because local factories produced goods too sophisticated for the abilities of their workforce.Publicad