Publication: Searching for the roots of retardation : Spain in European perspective, 1500-1850
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2007-03
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Abstract
This paper investigates when did retardation begin in Spain and examines the
evidence on economic performance over three centuries. In contrast to earlier
estimates that focus almost exclusively on Castilian agriculture we look at
trends in urbanization as a measure of economic activity outside agriculture and
construct new measures of agricultural and total output at regional and national
levels. We find distinctive long-run behaviour across Spanish regions that reject
the identification between Castile and Spain. We also provide new output
estimates for six Western European countries that allow placing Spanish
performance in comparative perspective. Two main findings are highlighted. At
the time of her imperial expansion Spain appears to have a relatively affluent
nation and, by the late sixteenth century, her income per head was only below
the Low Countries’ and Italy’s. The roots of Spanish retardation lie in the
seventeenth century and deepened during the early nineteenth century.
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Preindustrial Spain, Europe, Urbanization, Agriculture, Retardation