Growth, inequality, and poverty in Spain, 1850-2000: evidence and speculation.

Abstract

Was the Civil War (1936-39) originated by staggering inequality and extreme poverty? How did Franco's dictatorship (1939-75) affect inequality and poverty? As a first step to provide an answer, growth and inequality over the long-run are assessed and their impact on absolute poverty calibrated. The paper concludes that during the last one and a half centuries economic growth, but also the decline in inequality during the Interwar years and since the late 1950s, led to a substantial reduction in absolute poverty. Raising inequality and poverty do not seem to have triggered the Civil War.