IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/ereveh/v2y1998i01p25-48_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the contribution of human capital to the development of the Catalan factory system (1830–61)

Author

Listed:
  • Rosés, Joan R.

Abstract

The article argues that for a region adopting a technology from elsewhere, an existing stock of (relevant) human capital was essential to the rapid and successful adoption of the technology. But once the technology has been fully assimilated, increments to human capital would not be expected to be important in its further growth. Thus, Catalan industrialisation was possible because the level of human capital present in industry was enough to adopt and modify new technologies. Human capital stock was mainly the result of past investments in on-the-job training, and children's informal education took place in the workplace rather than the schoolroom. Therefore, the level of human capital present in the workforce was higher than literacy and schooling rates showed. However, evidence is also presented on the low contribution made by human capital to growth rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosés, Joan R., 1998. "Measuring the contribution of human capital to the development of the Catalan factory system (1830–61)," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 25-48, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:2:y:1998:i:01:p:25-48_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1361491698000021/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sascha O. Becker & Erik Hornung & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Education and Catch-Up in the Industrial Revolution," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 92-126, July.
    2. Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Marc Prat, 2022. "Pre-industrial inequality in Catalonia," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/430, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro & Rosés, Joan R., 2010. "Human capital and economic growth in Spain, 1850-2000," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 520-532, October.
    4. Leandro Prados de la Escosura & Joan R. Rosés, 2021. "Accounting For Growth: Spain, 1850–2019," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 804-832, July.
    5. Alessandro Nuvolari & Michelangelo Vasta, 2017. "The geography of innovation in Italy, 1861–1913: evidence from patent data," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 21(3), pages 326-356.
    6. Beltrán Tapia, Francisco J. & Díez-Minguela, Alfonso & Martinez-Galarraga, Julio & Tirado-Fabregat, Daniel A., 2022. "Two Stories, One Fate: Age-Heaping And Literacy In Spain, 1877-1930," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 405-438, December.
    7. Leandro Prados de la Escosura & Carlos Santiago-Caballero, 2018. "The Napoleonic Wars: A Watershed in Spanish History?," Working Papers 0130, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Rosés, Joan R. & O'Rourke, Kevin H. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 2007. "Globalization, growth and distribution in Spain 1500-1913," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp07-08, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    9. Erik Hornung, 2012. "Human Capital, Technology Diffusion, and Economic Growth - Evidence from Prussian Census Data," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 46.
    10. Roses, Joan R. & Sanchez-Alonso, Blanca, 2004. "Regional wage convergence in Spain 1850-1930," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 404-425, October.
    11. Bakker, Gerben, 2004. "At the origins of increased productivity growth in services. Productivity, social savings and the consumer surplus of the film industry, 1900-1938," Economic History Working Papers 22348, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    12. Rosés, Joan R., 1998. "The choice of tecnology in the Mediterranean basin : some evidence from the Spanish, Italian, British and us cotton mills(1830-1860)," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH 6182, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    13. Èric Gómez-i-Aznar, 2019. "Human capital at the beginnings of the 18th century Catalonia: age-heaping and numeracy in a changing economy," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1904, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    14. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro & Rosés, Joan R., 2003. "Wages and labor income in history : a survey," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wh031006, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    15. Bergoña Álvarez & Fernando Ramos Palencia, 2016. "The Role of human capital in pre-industrial societies: skills and earnings in eighteenth-century Castile (Spain)," Working Papers 0099, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    16. Becker, Sascha O. & Hornung, Erik & Woessmann, Ludger, 2009. "Catch Me If You Can: Education and Catch-up in the Industrial Revolution," IZA Discussion Papers 4556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Muñoz, Lina Gálvez, 2000. "Género y cambio tecnológico: Rentabilidad económica y política del proceso de industrialización del monopolio de tabacos en España (1887–1945)," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 11-45, March.
    18. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Julio Martínez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado, 2019. "The uneven transition towards universal literacy in Spain, 1860-1930," Working Papers 0173, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    19. Pujadas-Mora, Joana-Maria & Brea-Martinez, Gabriel, 2020. "The increasing influence of siblings in social mobility. A long-term historical view (Barcelona area, 16th-19th centuries)," SocArXiv sf6vj, Center for Open Science.
    20. Brian D. Varian, 2020. "The manufacturing comparative advantages of late-Victorian Britain," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(3), pages 479-506, September.
    21. Álvarez, Begoña & Palencia, Fernando Ramos, 2018. "Human capital and earnings in eighteenth-century Castile," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 105-133.
    22. Domènech, Jordi & Elu-Terán, Alexander, 2008. "Women's Paid Work in an Urban Developing Economy. Barcelona in 1930," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 375-401, January.
    23. Gheorghe Zaman & Zizi Goschin, 2014. "Economic Crisis and Wage Divergence: Empirical Evidence from Romania," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(4), pages 493-513.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:2:y:1998:i:01:p:25-48_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ere .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.