Distribution of English textiles in the Spanish market at the beginning of the 18th century

This article examines the marketing and distribution of foreign fabric, predominantly English, in the northern sub-plateau of Spain at the beginning of the 18th century using information from a fiscal source. The official tax record used in this study was a specific and special tax levied on cloth imported from countries with which Spain was at war. The details of this tax shed more light on a hotly debated topic with respect to transport and networks in modern Spain and make it possible to analyze and quantify the physical volume as well as the value and the destination of textiles.En este trabajo se analiza la comercialización y distribución de tejidos extranjeros en la sub-meseta norte de España a comienzos del setecientos a través de una fuente fiscal que nos permite matizar ciertos aspectos relacionados con la demanda de textiles. La fuente utilizada en este trabajo es un impuesto que se cobraba sobre los textiles importados en tiempos de guerra y que recoge quien enviaba la mercancía, el receptor de la misma, el transportista, el tipo de tejido, su valor fiscal, la cantidad así como el impuesto extraordinario pagado que iba a la tesorería real. Los resultados de este estudio permiten analizar en profundidad por lo tanto las redes de distribución y el tipo de tejidos ingleses que se demandaban.This work was co-financed by MICINN HAR 2008-04978/His and HAR 2012-35965/His and the Basque Government (Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza, Grupo de Investigación consolidado IT337-10

Technology transfer networks in the first industrial age: the case of Derosne & Cail and the sugar industry (1818–1871)

This article examines the transnational operations of the French firm Derosne & Cail, one of the most innovative engineering companies in the mid-nineteenth century. It would become the leading European firm supplying advanced steam-powered technologies and equipment to the international sugar industry. Derosne & Cail’s international expansion was achieved primarily through a global strategy that connected customers and suppliers, particularly by building an effective international network of technological knowledge and expertise. This article explores three aspects related to its international activities from 1818 to 1871 (both before and after Derosne’s death): strategies of commercialisation of steam technologies; relationships with end users; and consequences for industrialising peripheral countries in terms of the transfer of knowledge, technology, and human capita

EconHist: a relational database for analyzing the evolution of economic history (1980–2019)

Since the cliometric revolution, the future of economic history has been discussed in relation to its supposedly increasing integration with economics and other disciplines. Any well-grounded argument in this regard would require a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the scientific production of economic historians in recent decades. This article provides a systematic method for collecting and analyzing the scientific production—in the form of indexed articles—of a broad and representative sample of authors who identify themselves as economic historians. From this sample, we have built EconHist, a relational database that contains the bibliometric information provided by Scopus, and the biographical information from authors’ curricula vitae between 1980 and 2019. Finally, we show the opportunities and difficulties related to the design and development of such a databas

Dos siglos de industrialización y cambio económico

La Revolución Industrial es uno de los hitos más importantes de la historia de la humanidad. Las transformaciones que acarreó desbordaron lo económico de tal forma que, desde un punto de vista social, cultural y político, el mundo ha sido otro desde que el proceso comenzara en Inglaterra. Este libro, con un estilo ameno y riguroso, narra esa progresiva metamorfosis de la economía mundial desde finales del siglo XVIII hasta nuestros días, siguiendo no solo la evolución de los protagonistas o de la tecnología, sino desgranando los efectos de la industrialización en el aumento o descenso de la desigualdad entre países y dentro de los países. Este enfoque temático se acompaña de una serie de estudios de casos así como de una selección de documentos comentados En definitiva, este libro está dirigido a estudiantes universitarios y especialistas, pero también a cualquier lector interesado en la historia económica, pues tiene el objetivo de articular el conocimiento de la industrialización y el cambio económico profundizando en aquellos aspectos que fueron decisivos y que permiten entender mejor el mundo que nos rode

Demand for cuban tobacco as seen through cuban exports

During the nineteenth century Spain did not import the majority of Cuban tobacco, nor was most if it consumed in Spain. Spain neither consumed nor re-exported Cuban tobacco, due to its high quality, was too expensive to be able to compete with tobacco of lesser quality which was, therefore, cheaper. The spanish tax office preferred to take in huge amounts of money by taxing consumption in general rather than promoting Cuban tobacco. For this reason, Spain imported tobacco of mediocre and poor quality and taxed it through the government-licensed tobacconists. However, Cuban tobacco was successful as it could be exported freely in exchange for lower customs duties, thus allowing an increase in production as well as the possibility of reaching, on the international market, prices matching its quality. This paper attempts to discern how Spain grew in its colonies the world's best tobacco but did not consume it nor re-exported it. The analysis of Cuban tobacco exports reveals the most relevant aspects that influenced the consolidation of these circumstances