IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cte/whrepe/wp08-12.html

Proximate causes of economic growth in Spain, 1850-2000

Author

Listed:
  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro
  • Rosés, Joan R.

Abstract

Between 1850 and 2000, Spain’s real output and labor productivity grew at average rates of 2.5 and 2.1 percent. The sources of this long-run growth are investigated here for the first time. Broad capital accumulation and efficiency gains appear as complementary in Spain’s long-term growth. Factor accumulation dominated long-run growth up to 1950, while total factor productivity led thereafter and, especially, during periods of growth acceleration. The main spurts in TFP and capital coincide with the impact of the railroads (1850s-80), the electrification (the 1920s and 1950s) and to the adoption of new vintage technology during the Golden Age.

Suggested Citation

  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro & Rosés, Joan R., 2008. "Proximate causes of economic growth in Spain, 1850-2000," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp08-12, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    • Handle: RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp08-12
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/rest/api/core/bitstreams/35f82f6f-063e-4567-8181-b487a7766c7b/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susan M. Collins & Barry P. Bosworth, 1996. "Economic Growth in East Asia: Accumulation versus Assimilation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(2), pages 135-204.
    2. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    3. Marcel P. Timmer & Bart van Ark, 2005. "Does information and communication technology drive EU-US productivity growth differentials?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(4), pages 693-716, October.
    4. Hulten, Charles R, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change Is Embodied in Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 964-980, September.
    5. Saez, Emmanuel & Alvaredo, Facundo, 2006. "Income and Wealth Concentration in Spain in a Historical and Fiscal Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 5836, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Rhode,Paul W. & Toniolo,Gianni (ed.), 2006. "The Global Economy in the 1990s," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521617901, June.
    7. Patrick K. O'Brien & Leandro Prados De La Escosura, 1992. "Agricultural productivity and European industrialization, 1890-1980," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 45(3), pages 514-536, August.
    8. Lains, Pedro, 2003. "Catching up to the European core: Portuguese economic growth, 1910-1990," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 369-386, October.
    9. Susanne Mundschenk & Michael H. Stierle & Ulrike Stierle-von Schütz & Iulia Traistaru, 2006. "Competitiveness and Growth in Europe: An Overview," Chapters, in: Susanne Mundschenk & Michael H. Stierle & Ulrike Stierle-von Schütz & Iulia Traistaru-Siedschlag (ed.), Competitiveness and Growth in Europe, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Charles R. Hulten, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change is Embodied in Capital," NBER Working Papers 3971, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Alwyn Young, 1995. "The Tyranny of Numbers: Confronting the Statistical Realities of the East Asian Growth Experience," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 641-680.
    12. Crafts, Nicholas, 1999. "Implications of Financial Crisis for East Asian Trend Growth," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(3), pages 110-131, Autumn.
    13. Charles R. Hulten & Sylaja Srinivasan, 1999. "Indian Manufacturing Industry: Elephant or Tiger? New Evidence on the Asian Miracle," NBER Working Papers 7441, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Susanne Mundschenk & Michael H. Stierle & Ulrike Stierle-von Schütz & Iulia Traistaru-Siedschlag (ed.), 2006. "Competitiveness and Growth in Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4060.
    15. Antras, Pol & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2003. "Factor prices and productivity growth during the British industrial revolution," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 52-77, January.
    16. John W. Kendrick, 1961. "Productivity Trends in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend61-1, February.
    17. Hulten, Charles R. & Wykoff, Frank C., 1981. "The estimation of economic depreciation using vintage asset prices : An application of the Box-Cox power transformation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 367-396, April.
    18. 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.
    19. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro & Rosés, Joan R., 2008. "Long-run Estimates of Physical Capital in Spain, 1850-2000," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp08-07, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    20. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    21. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    22. Domenech, Jordi, 2007. "Working hours in the European periphery: The length of the working day in Spain, 1885-1920," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 469-486, July.
    23. Robert J. Gordon, 1999. "U.S. Economic Growth since 1870: One Big Wave?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 123-128, May.
    24. Dale W. Jorgenson, 1991. "Productivity and Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Fifty Years of Economic Measurement: The Jubilee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, pages 19-118, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. M. Arrazola & J. De Hevia & M. Risueno & J. F. Sanz, 2003. "Returns to education in Spain: Some evidence on the endogeneity of schooling," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 293-304.
    26. D. W. Jorgenson & Z. Griliches, 1967. "The Explanation of Productivity Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(3), pages 249-283.
    27. Paul A. David, 2005. "Two Centuries of American Macroeconomic Growth From Exploitation of Resource Abundance to Knowledge-Driven Development," Macroeconomics 0502021, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Huberman, Michael, 2004. "Working Hours of the World Unite? New International Evidence of Worktime, 1870–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 964-1001, December.
    29. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    30. Maddison, Angus, 1987. "Growth and Slowdown in Advanced Capitalist Economies: Techniques of Quantitative Assessment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 649-698, June.
    31. Barro, Robert J, 1999. "Notes on Growth Accounting," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 119-137, June.
    32. Christensen, Laurits R & Jorgenson, Dale W & Lau, Lawrence J, 1973. "Transcendental Logarithmic Production Frontiers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 55(1), pages 28-45, February.
    33. Altug, Sumru & Filiztekin, Alpay & Pamuk, Şevket, 2008. "Sources of long-term economic growth for Turkey, 1880–2005," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 393-430, December.
    34. Barry Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 2008. "Accounting for Growth: Comparing China and India," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 45-66, Winter.
    35. Alba-Ramirez, Alfonso & San Segundo, Maria Jesus, 1995. "The returns to education in Spain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 155-166, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Charles R. Hulten, 2000. "Total Factor Productivity: A Short Biography," NBER Working Papers 7471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hulten, Charles R., 2010. "Growth Accounting," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 987-1031, Elsevier.
    4. Burda, Michael C. & Severgnini, Battista, 2014. "Solow residuals without capital stocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 154-171.
    5. Nicholas Crafts & Pieter Woltjer, 2021. "Growth Accounting In Economic History: Findings, Lessons And New Directions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 670-696, July.
    6. André A. Hofman, 2000. "The Economic Development of Latin America in the Twentieth Century," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1534.
    7. Leandro Prados de la Escosura & Tamás Vonyó & Ilya B. Voskoboynikov, 2021. "Accounting For Growth In History," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 655-669, July.
    8. 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.
    9. repec:ehl:lserod:22350 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Crafts, Nicholas, 2000. "Development history," Economic History Working Papers 22384, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    11. Crafts, Nicholas, 2003. "Quantifying the contribution of technological change to economic growth in different eras: a review of the evidence," Economic History Working Papers 22350, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    12. Crafts, Nicholas & O’Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj, 2014. "Twentieth Century Growth*This research has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. 249546.," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 263-346, Elsevier.
    13. Nadja Wirz, 2008. "Assessing the Role of Technology Adoption in China's Growth Performance," EPRU Working Paper Series 2008-06, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    14. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop, 2013. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of growth: The case of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 303-320.
    15. Scott L. Baier & Gerald P. Dwyer & Robert Tamura, 2006. "How Important are Capital and Total Factor Productivity for Economic Growth?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 23-49, January.
    16. Ana González Galán & Juan José García del Hoyo & Félix García Ordaz, 2021. "Investment and Decapitalization in the Fishing Industry: The Case of the Spanish Crustacean Freezer Trawler Fleet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    17. Amparo Castello-Climent & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay, 2010. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of development: The case of India," Discussion Papers 10-08, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    18. Crafts, Nicholas, 2010. "The contribution of new technology to economic growth: lessons from economic history," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 409-440, December.
    19. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2012. "Productivity Convergence Across Industries and Countries: The Importance of Theory-based Measurement," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. ., 2013. "Total Factor Productivity and Economic Growth in Indonesia," Chapters, in: D. S.P. Rao & Bart van Ark (ed.), World Economic Performance, chapter 8, pages 193-226, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Mount, Timothy D. & Chapman, Duane & Khanna, Neha, 1997. "An Exploration of the Differences in National Growth: Some Implications for Future Environmental Policy," Working Papers 127886, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cte:whrepe:wp08-12. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Ana Poveda (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://portal.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/instituto_figuerola .

    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.