The essay measures the fiscal costs and benefits of colonialism both for die Spanish American colonies and for Spain in the period 1760–1814 using new estimates of die annual transfers from die colonies to the metropolitan treasury. The various components of die fiscal benefits for die metropolis are analyzed, including not only die transfer of silver but also large shipments of tobacco leaf from Cuba. It is argued that die American contribution to the ordinary income of the Spanish government increased in absolute and relative terms in die period 1790–1810.

A common view in the Spanish population history has been to show the variety of its regional demographies. In this regional setting the population of Catalonia has been characterized by its early connection between economic and social modernization and demographical change. This article aims to evaluate these connections between economic and demographical dynamics in Catalonia in the pre-industrial era (1600–1850). Series of vital events and prices from a sample of Catalan villages have been collected and demographical responses to short run fluctuations in standards of living evaluated through lag time series models. The main results show: a) Levels of mortality responses to fluctuations in standards of living are higher than levels of fertility throughout two and a half centuries, b) Nuptiality, in the XVIII th century, and fertility, in the first half of XIX th century, are the demographical mechanisms applied by the Catalan population in order to avoid tensions between population and resources during the process of economic growth.

The system of multiple exchange rates for the peseta, in force between 1948 and 1959, has posed many problems for Spanish historiography, in that it implies that the price at which foreign transactions were carried out is unknown, being hidden in the dense foliage of special exchange rates. In this paper we estimate the various average exchange rates series for all the Balance of Payments of these years, thus filling the vacuum that the post-Civil War period represents in the history of the peseta. We also calculate the real effective exchange rate, concluding that the important devaluations of 1949–1951 and 1957–1959 were insufficient in order to achieve equilibrium between Spanish relative prices and those of its main trading partners, so that the peseta remained continuously over-valued throughout the 1940's and 1950's.

This paper examines the convergence process at a disaggregated level in a historical context. A three-way disaggregation of the national accounts by output, income and expenditure reveals a wealth of diversity, bom over time and across countries, i.e. history and geography matter. Countries can specialise according to comparative advantage, and convergence at the aggregate level can occur through changes in structure as well as through convergence at the micro level. Similarly, changes in factor proportions may lead to convergence of aggregate incomes without requiring convergence of all factor prices at the micro level. Also, differences in preferences may persist, so that individual components of expenditure do not need to converge in line with aggregate expenditure. Convergence at the aggregate level, dren, does not necessarily lead to uniformity. Vive la différence!

La finalidad de esta Guía es dar a conocer los principales archivos y fondos documentales en los que se conservan fuentes para el estudio de la inversión extranjera en España durante el siglo XIX. Este tema, tan importante para la investigación de la historia económica española, ha llamado desde siempre la atención de los historiadores no sólo españoles sino también foráneos. Hoy día existe una apreciable cantidad de libros publicados que de una manera u otra se refieren a los aspectos legales, fiscales o políticos relacionados con la inversión extranjera en España. Se puede asegurar que es un asunto que siempre ha sido polémico y que muchas veces incluso ha despertado apasionamiento, en gran medida precisamente por sus implicaciones políticas. Algunos historiadores lo han considerado como un vehículo para una cierta forma de «colonialismo», mientras que otros lo ven como un claro signo de debilidad por parte del país receptor de la inversión cuando por ejemplo el ahorro interior es insuficiente para cubrir sus necesidades financieras.

Cualquier referencia al comportamiento de los precios en la economía española, anterior a la Primera Guerra Mundial, pasa ineludiblemente por el índice de Sardà (1948) para 1812–1890, y desde entonces el que se recoge en el Dictamen de la Comisión del patrón oro. El índice de precios al por mayor de Bustelo y Tortella (1976) para este período es el resultado del enlace entre los dos anteriores. Por otra parte, algunos investigadores han preparado índices de precios basados en estadísticas oficiales de comercio. Así, por ejemplo, Leandro Prados elaboró un índice de precios para las exportaciones y otro para las importaciones a partir de las estadísticas del comercio exterior español y británico. Las estadísticas del comercio de cabotaje también han sido utilizadas para obtener información sobre la evolución de los precios correspondientes. Ninguno de ellos, sin embargo, informa satisfactoriamente sobre el comportamiento de los precios en el sector industrial de la economía española.