"... Con El Nombre De Vino". Alcoholes, Fiscalidad Y Salud Pública En El Madrid Del Siglo Xix

This article focuses on the definition of wine as a commodity and as an object of fiscal policy in Madrid during the XIXth century. Against the assumption of neoinstitutional perspectives, for which the definition of a product -being a parcel of property rights- has positive effects by itself over the supply and demand, it is argued in this text that the conditions under which the definition of property rights takes place have deep effects over the influence of property rights on market expansion. In a first part, changes in the commercial sector of alcohol industry in Madrid are analyzed up to the middle of the century. This is followed by the description of the development of an innovative municipal institution established at the beginning of the Restauración combining both public health control and attempts to define wine quality. The last part analyzes the process of definition of wine for consumption in the aftermath of late-century changes in the political economy of the alcohol trade, showing that the organizational and institutional context neutralized its potential effects over the demand and made even more difficult the enforcement of fraud regulations. Classification-JEL :