In the early 20th century, governments not only used trade policy to protect domestic agricultural markets, but they also introduced regulations affecting quality, quantity and prices. In this article I assess the differences in the state intervention in wine markets in two major wine-producing countries, France and Spain, and try to explain the reasons for them. To do so, I examine the specific features of their markets and productive systems, the winegrowers’ collective action, and the political framework in each country. I argue that the differences are related to (a) the strength and cohesion of the winegrowers’ lobby, (b) the winegrowers’ relationship with political parties and (c) the state’s ability to respond to their demands.

The peseta was the Spanish currency for more than a century and, during this time, it played a remarkable role in adjusting the balance of payments. This paper presents a chronology of the moments when the adjustment was crucial, which, consistent with the macro-trilemma, coincided with periods of external openness. Moreover, this paper provides empirical support to the thesis that links the exceptionality of a floating peseta during the gold standard with fiscal profligacy.

The 1976/1977 crisis was the most severe in Spanish history, but the losses associated with the 2008 crisis are huge. This paper compares these two great banking crises and identifies the main parallels and differences between them. Is the current crisis as severe as that of 1976? What is the impact on the banking and financial sectors? We show that the 1976 crisis is being surpassed by the 2008 crisis in terms of the decline in GDP, industrial production and unemployment, and that these two events have had at least a similar impact in terms of output gap and output loss. Finally, the financial impact measured by different financial indicators confirms the greater severity of the 2008 crisis.

The Douro Wine Company was one of the most emblematic mercantilist companies promoted by the Marquis of Pombal. It was established in 1756 and has played an unquestionably important role in the Port wine market since then. Port wine exports to Brazil were significantly lower than exports to England over time. Generally, the oscillation of Port wine exports to Brazil has been explained by particular episodes in the Douro Wine Company’s business. Employing structural break analysis and vector of error correction models to analyse data between 1756 and 1826, we concluded that Port wine exports to Brazil were robustly explained by the monetary dimensions of the world economy of the time.

The purpose of this work is to correct an error contained in the historical record of Mexico’s GDP which has led to underestimate considerably the progress achieved by industrialisation in the Mexican economy before the Great Depression, also distorting its position within the Latin American context. This error consists in the misleading identification of industry with manufacture, ignoring the contribution to Mexican industrial production made by the metallurgical sector. By incorporating the value added from metallurgy to the net output of manufacture the share of industry in GDP grows accordingly, placing Mexico among the most industrialised countries of Latin America by the end of the export era.