Spanish Economists Research Articles

Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe. By Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Pp. xxii, 351. $51.50.

Proving again their mastery of both detail and synthesis, Barbara and Stanley Stein have done a masterful job of compression, packing into one mid-size book material that could easily have filled two. Silver, Trade, and War is more than a discussion of the role of silver in the evolution of the Spanish Empire: it addresses the role of Spain and America in the making of Early Modern Europe. The first half of the book outlines the emergence and consolidation of the system of political authority and silver flows that linked America, Spain, and the rest of Europe by 1700. The second half explores the efforts (and ultimate failure) of early and mid-eighteenth-century Spanish economist–bureaucrats to purge Spain of the its entrenched patterns of immobility, dependency, and self-interest.

Luis María Pastor: un economista en la España de Isabel II

RESUMENEl propósito de este artículo es sacar a la luz la obra de Luis María Pastor, un economists español de mediados del siglo XIX, que formuló teorías y propuestas de política económics que demuestran un conocimiento de la economía algo superior al que suele suponerse a los autores de ese período. Al hilo de la exposición de su obra, se hacen algunas consideraciones sobre la historia económica y politica de la época isabelina.

Spanish Industrial Unemployment: Some Explanatory Factors

The high level of unemployment is probably the worst feature of the recent evolution of the Spanish economy. In 1970 the overall unemployment rate stood at 1 per cent of the civilian labour force; in 1984 it is estimated to have gone over the 20 per cent level. This is a substantial increase which has no parallel in any European country. Between 1970 and 1983 the average unemployment rate in the EEC rose by 8-6 percentage points, while the increase in Spain over the same period was of 17 points. There is wide agreement among Spanish economists that these figures may be overstating the actual extent of the problem. The incidence of the underground economy and of fraudulent practices in unemployment registration may be wider than in most EEC countries. Nevertheless, we believe that, even taking into account these measurement difficulties, there has been a genuine worsening of the employment situation in Spain relative to that in other Western economies. The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence of the last 20 years about the main variables that influence the Spanish labour market, and to attempt a preliminary explanation of the increase in unemployment. For the latter task we use the analytical framework recently developed by Layard and Nickell (1984a), and concentrate on those institutional factors that may have influenced the level of unemployment consistent with non-accelerating inflation (NAIRU). The next section of the paper describes the key facts that we are trying to explain. Section II presents the analytical framework that we use, and discusses its theoretical foundations. These are dealt with very briefly, since they are fully explained in Layard and Nickell (1984a). Here we concentrate mostly on the empirical specification and on the description of the variables. The econometric results are presented in Section III and the explanation of the unemployment increase is given in Section IV. The final section summarizes our findings.

Spain's Economic System: An Ethical Evaluation

Spain's economic system has undergone a profound reorientation in the past five years. The pace and scope of this change have bewildered everyone who has tried to study them. Even those Spanish economists, who have been watching the process most closely, find it hard to believe that their nation has progressed as far as it has since 1959. Mere mea? surement of these changes has encountered serious difficulty because the statistical data available are not fully adequate for the task. Furthermore, there is still a great shortage of business and economic research into the realities of present day Spain. Fortunately, this writer has been able to travel extensively in Spain during the past three years. Interviews with Spanish government offi? cials, economists, bankers, lawyers, business leaders, workers and far? mers have furnished him with an intimate view of their observations and thinking about their country. Visits to Spanish factories, offices and farms have provided another source of information. However, many of the conclusions offered at the end of this paper are still necessarily subjective and impossible of adequate documentation. This paper will first trace the main developments in recent Spanish economic history. Then it will analyze the current status of the economic system. Obviously, it is impossible within the limits of this paper to dis? cuss all phases of economic policies now being followed by the Spanish government. Accordingly, the paper will examine only the leading agri? cultural policies of Spain in 1964. This concentration on agriculture can be justified readily because farming still provides a living for the largest segment of the population; because this is the sector with the most widespread poverty; because it provides a good insight into the motiva? tion and social philosophy of Spanish officialdom; and finally because it can be portrayed more accurately and more objectively than other sectors of the Spanish economy. Lastly, an effort will be made to spell