Was land reform necessary? Access to land in Spain, 1904-34

"A land reform involving the breaking-up of large Southern estates was a central issue in Spain during the first decades of the 20th century. It was justified on grounds of economic efficiency, social equity and the distribution of political power. Empirical analysis of the economic reasons for such major policy reform is, however, scant and often contradictory. This paper uses new provincial data on land prices, together with provincial-level variation in wages to address some of the unresolved issues of earlier studies. The results suggest that land reform was not necessary given that access to land market was improving significantly during the period. The paper draws important implications for the historiography on Spain, particularly from the fact that the observed impact of the operation of rural factor markets seems to have been positive for development. "