Globalization, Growth and Distribution in Spain 1500-1913

55 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2007 Last revised: 4 Sep 2022

See all articles by Joan R. Roses

Joan R. Roses

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Kevin H. O'Rourke

University of Dublin, Trinity College; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Jeffrey G. Williamson

Harvard University - Department of Economics, Laird Bell Professor of Economics, Emeritus; Honorary Fellow, University of Wisconsin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Date Written: April 2007

Abstract

The endogenous growth literature has explored the transition from a Malthusian world where real wages, living standards and labor productivity are all linked to factor endowments, to one where (endogenous) productivity change embedded in modern industrial growth breaks that link. Recently, economic historians have presented evidence from England showing that the dramatic reversal in distributional trends -- from a steep secular fall in wage-land rent ratios before 1800 to a steep secular rise thereafter -- must be explained both by industrial revolutionary growth forces and by global forces that opened up the English economy to international trade. This paper explores whether and how the relationship was different for Spain, a country which had relatively poor productivity growth in agriculture and low living standards prior to 1800, was a late-comer to industrialization afterwards, and adopted very restrictive policies towards imports for much of the 19th century. The failure of Spanish wage-rental ratios to undergo a sustained rise after 1840 can be attributed to the delayed fall in relative agricultural prices (due to those protective policies) and to the decline in Spanish manufacturing productivity after 1898.

Suggested Citation

Roses Vendoiro, Juan Ramon and O'Rourke, Kevin H. and Williamson, Jeffrey G., Globalization, Growth and Distribution in Spain 1500-1913 (April 2007). NBER Working Paper No. w13055, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=986905

Juan Ramon Roses Vendoiro

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ( email )

E-28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain

Kevin H. O'Rourke (Contact Author)

University of Dublin, Trinity College ( email )

Department of Economics
Dublin 2
Ireland
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+353 1 677 2503 (Fax)

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