0000000000048600
AUTHOR
Daniel A. Tirado-fabregat
Spain and Its Neighbours: An International Comparison
This chapter analyses whether the evolution of regional inequality in Spain—in terms of the levels reached and characterization of the major stages involved in its growth or reduction—matches that seen in most of the south-western European economic area. To this end new evidence on the historical evolution of territorial inequality in a significant area of Europe comprising all regions of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy is provided. From the analysis performed it can be gathered that the main patterns observed in the evolution of inequality throughout the economic development process in Spain accurately reflect what happened in all four states as a whole.
Introduction: Time, Space and Economics in the History of Latin America
This book represents a contribution in, at least, three dimensions: quantitative, historical and conceptual. From a quantitative point of view, the volume presents an extensive data set corresponding to 9 countries, 182 regions (states, provinces, departments) and around 14 benchmark years from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. This constitutes a substantial contribution to quantitatively analyse the economic development of Latin America, identifying the evolution of regional inequality and studying economic convergence and the formation of convergence clubs (clusters of poor and rich regions). Second, the volume combines a regional and supranat…
Spatial Patterns of Regional Income Inequality Then and Now
In this chapter an important element characteristic of territorial inequality is examined: the presence of geographical patterns, that is, the grouping of neighbouring regions into clusters of wealth or poverty. The descriptive evidence provided by the maps is supplemented with spatial autocorrelation statistics to test for the presence of spatial clustering. The analysis aims to identify when exactly the geographical patterns that characterize regional inequality in Spain today took shape. Then some hypotheses as to the causes are established. Finally, the chapter analyses whether the clusters of poor or rich regions continue uninterrupted beyond national borders to include regions of Port…
Regional Inequality in Latin America: Does It Mirror the European Pattern?
The aim of this chapter is to analyse the comparative evolution of regional inequality over the course of the historical economic development processes in four countries of South West Europe—France, Italy, Portugal and Spain—and nine countries of Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Our analysis, which goes back to the nineteenth century, shows that regional income inequality has followed over time what appears now to be an N-shaped evolution in both regions. However, both experiences differ markedly and we identify the main stylized facts of these trajectories. First, Latin America begun the period with higher levels of regional i…
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 from the Spanish population censuses (over 8000 ...
Methodology, Sources and New Evidence
This chapter presents the methodology used to construct the new estimates of regional GDP in Spain, breaking down the territory into NUTS3 and NUTS2 regions (provinces and autonomous communities respectively) and dividing sectors homogeneously into five production areas: agriculture, mining, manufacturing and public utilities, construction and services. Taken as a whole in combination with data on regional population, this information provides a picture of regional inequality in per-capita income in Spain over the long term, starting from the early stages of modern economic growth. This new quantitative evidence enables to point out some of the stylized facts observed in the regional distri…
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 i…
Introduction: A New Look at the Origins of Economic Growth and Regional Inequality
The contributions to this special issue share important themes and methodologies in their quest to explicate economic development and its effects. Nonetheless, each area under examination has its own peculiarities and warrants its own scope of analysis. The result is a special issue that pursues an innovative line of research, exploring parallels and contrasts in economic growth and inequality based on new data at the regional, rather than simply the national, level. The authors are grateful to the following institutions for their financial support of the research in this special issue of The Journal of Interdisciplinary History: (1) European Union (EU— Jean Monnet Action); (2) ICREA—Genera…
Was the Oil Sown Evenly? Long-Term Patterns of Regional Inequality in Venezuela (1881–2011)
This chapter presents new estimates for GDP and GDP per capita for the period 1881–2011 for the 23 states and Distrito Capital, which together with the Dependencias Federales, today make up the Republic of Venezuela. Given that the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) does not compile figures either for regional GDP or for the most recent period, calculating and presenting this new evidence is in itself an important contribution to our knowledge of the country’s economic reality. The descriptive evidence on regional income inequality in Venezuela presented in the text shows that its long-term evolution follows an inverted U-shaped curve. However, although inequality today is no greater than it …
La desigualdad económica regional en América Latina (1895-2010)
En este artículo se analiza por primera vez el crecimiento y la evolución de la desigualdad regional a lo largo del proceso de desarrollo económico de nueve países de Latinoamérica (Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela) entre 1895 y 2010. Para ello, en primer lugar se verifica la presencia de un proceso de beta-convergencia entre los países latinoamericanos para la totalidad del periodo. No obstante, se muestra cómo este proceso fue especialmente intenso durante los periodos en los que los diferentes Estados implementaron políticas activas de desarrollo (ISI) que favorecieron la convergencia entre las regiones de un mismo país. En segundo lugar, se …
Regional Income Inequality in Spain 1860–2015
How has regional economic inequality evolved since 1860? Is there a relationship between initial per-capita income and regional growth rates? Is there any relation between the evolution of regional inequality and the economic development process in Spain? In order to answer these questions, a number of different indicators of inequality are offered in this chapter. Then the patterns of convergence or divergence followed by Spanish regions from the mid-nineteenth century to the present are studied. Regional income inequality rose in the early stages of economic development and then declined. However, with high levels of development, around the 1980s, a change of trend is observed. In other w…
Two stories, one fate: age-heaping and literacy in Spain, 1877-1930
This study looks at human capital in Spain during the early stages of modern economic growth. In order to do so, we have assembled a new dataset on ageheaping and literacy in Spain for both men and women between 1877 and 1930 based on six population censuses with information for 49 provinces. Our results show that age-heaping was less prevalent during the second half of the 19th century than previously thought and did not decrease until the early twentieth century. By contrast, literacy increased throughout the whole period. Interestingly, age-heaping and illiteracy rates depict similar spatial patterns which confirm the stark differences in human capital within Spain. Lastly, we raise crit…
Scratching Beneath the Surface: Distribution Dynamics
This chapter explores how regional inequality has evolved in terms of mobility and persistence. Different statistical methods are used to determine whether there has been a general trend whereby the richest regions have maintained their position over time or whether, on the contrary, any relevant changes can be seen in the positions occupied by the various regions in terms of income levels per capita. The results allow identifying stories of relative success or failure among Spanish regions, discover when exactly these changes were most frequent, and then construct hypotheses about the economic and institutional conditions which led to the biggest changes in the map of regional inequality i…
A Potted History: Spain 1860–2015
This chapter aims to supply a synthetic view of the historical process of economic development in Spain broken down into major stages. Rather than examine it from all angles, the text concentrates on changes involving the elements highlighted in economic theory and empirical works, that is, the rate at which the Spanish economy advanced, the evolution of its production structure and sector employment, and the degree of integration of the goods and factor markets and the effects of this in both national and supranational terms. So as to give a stylized view of the process, the analysis is carried out on the basis of four major stages into which we divide the period of study: 1860–1910, 1910–…
What Explains the Long-term Evolution of Regional Income Inequality in Spain?
This chapter analyses the proximate causes of territorial inequality. To do this per-capita income inequality is broken down into elements related to differences in regional labour markets and elements linked to the presence of differences in labour productivity between regions. Then the factors that determine these differences in productivity are examined by carrying out a number of quantitative exercises to see whether or not they are in some way connected to the territories’ different production structures or whether they are due to the different levels of productivity registered by each sector on a regional scale. This set of exercises shows which of the potential explanatory factors wa…
The Origins of Economic Growth and Regional Income Inequality in Latin Europe, 1870–1950
Regional income inequality in Latin Europe (France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal) showed a distinctive pattern between 1870 and 1950. Data about population on a decadal basis and Gross Domestic Product (gdp) for 171 regions (84 French départements, 22 Italian regioni, 18 Portuguese distritos, and 49 Spanish provincias) shows that regional inequality increased from 1870 to 1910 but gradually flattened out thereafter until 1950. Current regional disparities in per-capita income throughout Latin Europe are essentially the result of a long-term evolution that traces back to the origins of modern economic growth. Moreover, this study shows the emergence of the core–periphery pattern that characte…