“Horn Of Plenty” Revisited: The Globalization Of Mediterranean Horticulture And The Economic Development Of Spain, 1850-1935

Abstract

This paper analizes the impact of the globalization of Mediterranean horticultural products (MHP). From 1850 onwards, the Mediterranean countries took advantage of the new opportunities that arose to increase their production and trade in MHP. The Spanish case shows how the high elasticity of supply with respect to prices helps to explain the enormous increase of its production and trade in MHP, that became the most dynamic sector of Spanish agriculture. The analysis of the counterfactual case of the non-existence of US MHP emphasizes the cost of this increasing competition to the traditional producers from the end of the nineteenth century.Globalization, International Markets, Spanish Economic Development, International Trade, Mediterranean Horticultural Products.