Human capital and economic growth in Spain, 1850–2000

We investigate human capital accumulation in Spain using income- and education-based alternative approaches. We, then, assess human capital impact on labor productivity growth and discuss the implications of its alternative measures for TFP growth. Trends in human capital are similar with either measure but the skill-premium approach fits better Spanish historical experience. As education is a high income elastic good, human capital growth computed with the education-based approach seems upward biased for the recent past. Human capital provided a positive albeit small contribution to labor productivity growth facilitating technological innovation.     

Regional wage convergence in Spain 1850–1930

This paper presents a new regional database on real wages for Spain from 1850 to 1930. This evidence is used to analyze the evolution of wages across regions and occupations. Substantial wage convergence occurred from 1850 to 1914, despite low rates of internal migration. World War I and the subsequent globalization backlash were associated with a spectacular increase in wage differentials. However, real wage convergence across Spanish provinces resumed during the 1920s, this time accompanied by high rates of internal migration.     

Income inequality in central Spain, 1690–1800

This paper studies the evolution of income inequality in central Spain during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, taking as case study the province of Guadalajara. The first part of the paper presents the sources and the dataset that was created to estimate income inequality using grain tithes. The second section shows that through the period grain represented the lion share of total income and therefore that it can be used as a reliable proxy. The following part of the paper introduces an analysis of income inequality in the province during the period 1690–1800 and concludes that inequality decreased during the last third of the eighteenth century. Finally the paper addresses this unexpected result and concludes that it was consequence of the success of the land reform carried out by the central government in the late 1760s. The reform was a success in Guadalajara, thanks to the characteristics of its population and the lack of bargaining power of pressure groups.     

Social class, social mobility and mortality in the Netherlands, 1850–2004

This study uses data from a random sample of births in the Netherlands during the period 1850–1922 to examine the relationships between social class, social mobility and mortality at middle and old age. Population registers and personal cards covering the period from 1850 to 2004 for all Dutch provinces were used to reconstruct individual life histories of 14,900 births. For men we did not find an effect of the social class of origin (using two different SES-classifications) on mortality in age group 18 to 35. We also did not observe an effect of own social class on mortality after age 35. For women effects of social class of origin and social class of husband were generally absent as well. Our conclusion is that the standard ideas about the negative effects of processes of industrialization and urbanization on the duration of life do not seem to apply to the Netherlands. Where one lived mattered more for survival than the social class one belonged to.     

Migrants and Technological Transfer: Chinese Farming in Australia, 1850–1920

Chinese farming in Australia between 1850 and 1920 has generally been given little attention, being usu ally characterised as just market gardening, but with little other detail about its development and characteristics. This article argues that Chinese farming was both complex and dynamic. Initially, Chinese farming was primarily casual labouring along European lines. However, from the 1880s onwards, Chinese farming became more specialised, focusing on a wide range of high-value, labour-intensive crops. The skill of the Chinese was not just the transference of farming techniques from China, but also in their entrepreneurship and ability to adapt their techniques to the Australian environment. Despite widespread European racism, some Europeans sought to capture the benefits of Chinese farming, developing European–Chinese partnerships. After 1900, Chinese farming declined in scale and diversity. At the same time, Europeans influenced by Chinese success adopted more labour-intensive farming practices.     

Risk and risk management in English agriculture, c. 1750–1850

This article scrutinizes the claim that the residual claimant in English agriculture was the fixed rent tenant farmer rather than the landlord. Examination of methods of agricultural insurance and risk management indicates that the income risks of farming were sizable, not straightforward to manage, and largely borne by the tenant. Thus the farmer's profit appears to have fluctuated by more over time and space than did the rent paid to the landlord. Attempts are made to assess changes over time in the nature and size of the production and price risks to which farmers were exposed.