This article analyses the evolution of the international monetary system from the introduction of floating exchange rates in 1973 to the present. It also dwells on the controversy over the results of a flexible exchange rate system versus a fixed exchange regime. Later it studies the proposals put forward for the stability of the system, the influence of capital movements and the recent events of the crisis of the European Monetary System.

The aim of this essay is to analize the role of the Spanish American colonial market in the development of the Spanish industry during the second half of the XVIIIth century. Specially we discuss the traditional view wich emphasizes the importance of the colonial trade for die development of the modern cotton industry in Catalonia. With the support of new evidence furnished by recent research we conclude that the internal market was the engine of the Spanish industrialization.

The nature and the extent of technological change are analysed from a comparative Spanish and European view, establishing the interrelationships between its components and its final effects. The relationship between technological change and the industrial organisation is studied from the permeability of the factory system to small and medium size firms. This fact made possible the development of a flexible industrial structure which was shaped in the making of a capable woollen textile district in die Vallès, and finally strengthened the competitive advantages of those firms in relation to the pioneer big firms. Last, induced changes on the labour force structure are considered.

Using the reconstructed royal treasury records for the three principal colonies of Spanish America from the last quarter of the 17th century to the first decade of the 19th century, this essay constructs the changing fortunes of royal income end expenditures in these crucial American economies. The viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico and the Audiencia of Charcas were the principal sources of surplus revenues in the American colonies. Until 1700 the two Andean regions domineted the Spanish American colonial system in terms of generating royal income and in producing silver for export to Europe. But these soon declined relative to Mexico, which in the 18th century become the dominent economy and major source of royal income. The various royal revenues and expenditures and their performance over time are analyzed for ell three colonies to determine the long term trends in their growth and relative importance.

The aim of this work is to explain the increase of die Castillian supply of flour as a result of the changes in die commercial policy between 1820–1841. Since 1820 the gouvernments of Fernando VII approved new protective tariffs widi die purpose of excluding die consumption of foreing flour in die domestic and die Cuban markets. As a consequence, die number of flour milling factories working in Castille grew up. We have to distinguish between two kinds of mills set up close tho the Canal de Castilla: those with can be consdidered «factories» and those others whose work is near to the putting-out-system. Both plants were owned by a cartel formed by flour dealers from Santander who obtained considerable profits thanks to their privileged position in the market.

A model is developed and estimated to explain why some European countries were richer than others between 1860 and 1910 and why some increased dieir prosperity faster in the period. The model quantifies by two methods some of the contributors to the income gap between the economies of Spain and Britain in 1880 and 1910. Determinants of European nations' output per head included natural endowments (climate and coal deposits), economic policy (tariff protection and very marginally the gold standard), and cultural heritage as reflected in literacy. Measurement errors, country specific factors and perhaps variables not considered in this analysis account for less than half Spanish-UK income differences at the dates estimated.

This paper analizes the performance of interest groups in the Spanish alcohol market between 1887 and 1936. The research addresses the question of the impact of these agroindustrial interest groups in the making of —protective— economic policies during the Restauration. In order to answer this question, we have reconstructed their interaction with political and administrative agencies, on the basis of both the published documents of the groups and associations, and the records of the parliamentary committees. The main conclusions are: 1. Pressure groups remained very autonomous with regards to the extremely heterogeneous interests of the sector, 2. The Parliament proved unable to establish priorities among die conflicting interests; and 3. The lawmaking process ignored the main proposals and did not produce an alcohol policy.

Although only recently the positive performance of the landlords in the Spanish agricultural growth has been standed up, we know relatively little about the participation of the landed aristocraty in these changes. Through the analysis of the administation, the accounting, investments and strategies of some aristocratic families, the article emphasizes the slowness and very often failure of some transformations. The work shows that nor mental factors neither the scarcity of resources and opportunities explain these failures. Instead it is pointed out their incapacity in creating an efficient organization which could solve, at die same time, the problems of a scattered inheritance and the ambiguities of formal property rights.

The article is divided in two parts. In the first part we analyse the reasons why it is not possible to quantify the agrarian macrovariables of the Old Regime. In the second part, we point out the most salient features of valencian agriculture during the XVIth, XVIIth, and XVIIIth centuries, such as the adoption of new techniques and the increasing comercialization of all types of crops.

This paper studies the process of modernization of the Spanish resin industry, one of the most widespread activities in the vast coniferous woodlands existing, above all, in the northern Castilian meseta. Starting from a previous peasant tradition, the sector was transformed by new techniques and entrepreneurs at the end of the 19th century, into one of the most relevant branches of the Spanish chemical industry, with an important presence in international markets.

In 1856 the Banco EspañOl de La Habana started to operate. According to its Charter it was the only banking institution with privilege to issue. Its relations with the government were thus very close from the beginning. This article studies the evolution of the bank between 1856 and 1880. Special attention is paid to its financial support to the government, particularly during the Cuban insurrection of 1868. We also point out the assistance of the Spanish government to this institution in periods of maximum strain (crisis of 1857 and 1866) and the key role of the bank as a piece in the political and administrative machinery of the colony.

The Land Tax, established in Spain in 1845, suffered from the lack of an efficient system of data collection concerning ownership and the use of land. The documents known as «amillaramientos» are unworthy of trust, not only due to their high level of concealment, but also as result of the fact that they were by nature the fruits of political negociations and not of statistical research. A detailed analysis of die province of Cádiz confirms this hypothesis. As a result, the study of the Spanish agricultural growth of the second half of the nineteenth century and die first third of the twentieth century must consider the coincidence between this time period and die growing improvement in the quality of the official information concerned with cultivated areas, productions and profits. The series so far used depart, from artificially low figures, distorted by the antifiscal efforts which dominated the Spanish rural world at the time.

On the occasion of the bicentenary (1795–1995) of the publication of the Report on the Agrarian Law by Jovellanos, we present a retrospective view of this classic work of Spanish thought, including a review of its widely varying modern interpretations and an analysis of the content of die text and its title. The conclusion insists mat the Report was in line with die Spanish Enlightenment tradition, that the usual descriptions of mercantilist, Smithian liberal or physiocrat are inappropiate, and mat it is necessary to consider the work in the period when it was written.

Fleeming Jenkin (1833–1885) was the first person in Britain to draw supply and demand curves, discussing them as mathematical functions and employing them to study economic problems. A celebrated engineer, he made remarkable contributions to economics, that attracted little attention in his time. This article goes through Jenkin's thought, emphasizing his analysis of the three laws of supply and demand, and its application to the labour market and die taxes, mat produced the independent discovery of die notion of consumer and producer surplus. The article holds that a reason why Jenkin lacked die acknowledgement he deserved lay in the hostile attitude towards him by Jevons and Marshall, who undervalued his contributions and insisted that they had anticipated Jenkin. The article concludes that this claim is unfounded.

Towards the year 1900, the Spanish countryside witnessed the emergence of an agricultural co-operative movement, formed by farmers of small or middle sized holdings. The importance of the economic activity thus generated is evaluated, whilst analysing some of the obstacles which prevented its development. The conclusion reached is, that despite the existence of some co-operative nuclei of great vitality, the Spanish agricultural co-operative movement during the first third of the 20th century, was characterised by decapitalisation and by a lack of consolidation. As a result, its capacity to introduce small scale farming was very limited.

This article studies the dynamics of exports from the Argentine Litoral to Buenos Aires between 1783 and 1850. A quantitative analysis of the litoral's commerce enables us to state that exports grew faster after independence than during the colonial period, as did die «litoraleña» economy as a whole. As a result, the region experienced a successful transition from the colonial period to independence.

Esta nota pretende llevar el debate abierto en torno al tema de qué historia empresarial podemos y queremos hacer, más allá del marco en el que se viene desarrollando hasta el présente. En este sentido, propugna como idea central que las agendas de investigatión y la docencia de historia empresarial incorporen las reflexiones y resultados obtenidos por los historiadores del tra-bajo en los últimos años.