Trademarks,product differentiation and competitiveness in the Catalan knitwear districts during the twentieth century

Using the number of trademarks registered as an indicator, this article explores the functioning of the economies of product differentiation that characterise industrial districts. In order to assess the role of districts in the creation of trademarks, the analysis focuses on knitwear production, a highly competitive industry and a pioneer in brand creation in Spain, and examines the development of the country's two main knitwear districts during the twentieth century. The article presents empirical evidence from trademark and business records to show that more trademarks were created in these two districts than in other areas. The imitation and rivalry characteristic of industrial districts favoured the proliferation of trademarks and encouraged firms to diversify their products through the creation of new brands. It also suggests that the success of the brands was uneven and depended on the industrial structure in each district and the kind of product specialisation. In conclusion, not only were the industrial districts an important factor in brand creation, but brand consolidation was decisive in raising levels of competitiveness in knitwear districts in Spain.     

A new state in Europe? Scenarios for Catalan self-determination

Historically, the political structure of Spain has been a source of conflict: peripheral regions as Catalonia and the Basque country have questioned the centralized power of the state and have claimed a higher level of decentralization in view of their distinct history, cultural identity and language. Recently, political and social discontent has escalated in Catalonia, leading to the unilateral announcement of a Catalan self-determination referendum for November 2014. Regardless of political or ethical preferences, it will be necessary to foresee the consequences of this process for Catalonia, Spain and elsewhere. A scenario approach focuses on possible outcomes of the current debate rather than on the arguments put forward in the controversy. Those in favour of Catalan independence have depicted a future for their country with a booming economy that will situate it at currently unattainable levels of prosperity. Opponents of secession argue that Catalonia will become a failed state. These future visions of an independent Catalonia can be described as scenarios, the underlying assumptions and plausibility of which can be analysed. EU membership and the effect of borders on international trade are identified as key variables. The alternative scenarios will also be crucial to evaluate the broader impact of “a new state in Europe”.     

Effects of political instability in consolidated destinations: The case of Catalonia (Spain)

Catalonia is one of the most successful tourist regions in Spain. This article analyses the immediate impact that the instability associated to the recent political situation in Catalonia has had on the arrivals and spending of international tourists in the region using the classical Box-Jenkins method (ARIMA) and the more recent Bayesian Structural Time-Series Models. The results obtained indicate that during the final quarter of 2017, political events led to a reduction in the arrivals and spending of tourists in the region, although whether this impact reached statistical significance depends on the estimation method used.     

Cultural change and industrial heritage tourism: material heritage of the industries of food and beverage in Catalonia (Spain)

Tourism is recognised as an agent of social and cultural change and has been identified as a force for both cultural enrichment and rejuvenation of territories. This article analyses the historical evolution and the opportunities that a type of the industrial heritage, the old industry of food and beverage, presents as tourist resource, both its products and processes and its architectural structure. There are numerous examples in all developed countries; however, in this work is analysed the case of Catalonia (Spain), where museums and interpretation centres have been created in abandoned factories, and these old factories have increasingly become a new attraction for those tourists interested to know more about the industrial past. This new tourism has an important geographic content since it recovers the cultural, social and economic values of the old industrial landscapes. This article's first goal is to review the historical evolution of the industry of food and beverage in Catalonia in the last centuries, creating a material heritage that in this new millennium, in which rapid changes and transformations are taking place, has been converted into tourist products. Second, to analyse the feasibility of this tourism with these attributes: potential, stakeholders, adaptive reuse, economics, authenticity and perceptions.     

Secession in the European Union

This paper argues the case for the right of secession in Western democracies. I suggest that the winners gain more than the losers may lose. Indeed, the external effects of secession may well be positive. However, the political economy of secession is highly problematic. Ideally, the rules for secession should be set at the international level but international organisations have a vested interest in preventing secession. It is easier to establish the right of secession at the national level. The opinion of the European Union institutions that Catalonia and Scotland, after seceding, would have to reapply for EU membership has no basis in the European treaties. Nor has this question been settled in any UN agreement or Vienna Convention. There are merely practices, and they vary among international institutions. The paper concludes with suggestions on how secessions from EU member states and withdrawals of member states from the EU might be implemented.     

Beyond market dependence: The origins of capitalism in Catalonia

Buried in the footnotes of his famous 1976 essay, Robert Brenner left the remark that Catalonia had experienced an agrarian transition to capitalism in parallel to England. This important claim has been completely forgotten by his followers of the political Marxist tradition, who since then have developed his views on the origins of capitalism. Building on the specialist literature, this article revisits the question of the Catalan transition through the prism of political Marxism and teases out its implications. In particular, it argues that the Catalan case illustrates the centrality of agency and subjectivity in the process of capitalist change. Contrary to Brenner's claim, this paper will argue that pre‐capitalist social property relations persisted in agriculture throughout the period of transition. Instead, the region's capitalist breakthrough was prompted by sociocultural struggles in its 18th‐century proto‐industry.     

The emergence of winemaking cooperatives in Catalonia

This article traces the emergence of winemaking cooperatives in Catalonia, one of southern Europe’s main winegrowing regions. It analyses the stimuli that led to the creation of winemaking cooperatives in the early twentieth century and the difficulties that they faced in a depressed wine market, such as financing the construction of winemaking facilities, the governance and organisation of cooperative services, and marketing their produce. I explore the reasons why many more wine cooperatives were created in Catalonia in early twentieth century than in Spain’s other winegrowing regions and I try to identify the obstacles that hindered their further development.     

Seeing credit and property rights from below: The experience of Catalan smallholders in the eighteenth century

The Catalan case in south-western Europe offers us the opportunity to take a detailed look at the impact a lowering of the interest rate may have had on the poor of a specific area. It is vital to examine how property rights operated in specific contexts, given the close relationship between land and credit markets. Our working hypothesis is that, in some instances where property rights were redefined, as happened in eighteenth-century Catalonia, the reduction of the interest rate in secured loans benefitted the poorer social groups. The findings of this research, in line with those of some development economists, suggest that only an empirical and bottom-up perspective allows for a proper analysis of the eradication of poverty by placing it within the real picture of social change.