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2020/2021

Spanish Economic History

Code: 102314 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2501572 Business Administration and Management OT 4 0
2501573 Economics FB 1 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Montserrat Llonch Casanovas
Email:
Montserrat.Llonch@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Carmen Sarasua García
Marc Rivas Lopez

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites to follow the course successfully. However it is desirable that students have some knowledge of World Contemporary History, Contemporary History of Spain, and Economics

Objectives and Contextualisation

Context Economic History of Spain is part of the group of basic subjects in the first year for the studies of Economics and Business Administration. The objective of these subjects is for students to acquire the knowledge, analytical tools and basic methodology in order to develop the general and specific competencies of the degree program. This course studies the development of the Spanish economy, starting in the 19th century but focusing on the 20th century. It appraises the different phases of modern economic growth, the impact of major historical facts in the economy as well as the transformation of economic institutions.

Contextualise economic problems in historical terms. Demonstrate knowledge of the interrelationships between different economies, the role of national and international economies, their evolution and the consequences that may be produced for the company. Identify the economic agents that make up an economy, understanding how they have been interrelated to date, how they are currently interrelated and forecast futures according to new circumstances. 

Competences

    Business Administration and Management
  • Capacity for adapting to changing environments.
  • Capacity for independent learning in the future, gaining more profound knowledge of previous areas or learning new topics.
  • Capacity for oral and written communication in Catalan, Spanish and English, which enables synthesis and oral and written presentation of the work carried out.
  • Contextualise economic problems in historical terms.
  • Demonstrate initiative and work individually when the situation requires it.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the interrelationships between different economies, the role of national and international economies, their evolution and the consequences that may be produced for the company.
  • Identify the economic agents that make up an economy, understanding how they have been interrelated to date, how they are currently interrelated and forecast futures according to new circumstances and their influence on a specific company.
  • Organise the work in terms of good time management, organisation and planning.
  • Select and generate the information necessary for each problem, analyse it and take decisions based on that information.
  • Show motivation for carrying out quality work and sensitivity to the consequences for the environment and society.
  • Value ethical commitment in professional practice.
    Economics
  • Capacity for adapting to changing environments.
  • Capacity for independent learning in the future, gaining more profound knowledge of previous areas or learning new topics.
  • Contextualise economic problems in historical terms.
  • Demonstrate initiative and work individually when the situation requires it.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the interrelationships between different economies, the role of national and international economies, their evolution and the consequences that may be produced for the company.
  • Identify the economic agents that make up an economy, understanding how they have been interrelated to date, how they are currently interrelated and forecast futures according to new circumstances and their influence on a specific company.
  • Organise the work in terms of good time management, organisation and planning.
  • Select and generate the information necessary for each problem, analyse it and take decisions based on that information.
  • Show motivation for carrying out quality work and sensitivity to the consequences for the environment and society.
  • Value ethical commitment in professional practice.
  • Work well in a team, being able to argue proposals and validate or reject the arguments of others in a reasoned manner.

Learning Outcomes

  1. A capacity of oral and written communication in Catalan, Spanish and English, which allows them to summarise and present the work conducted both orally and in writing.
  2. Analyse the current economic problems in historical terms, to better assess the evolutionary possibilities of economic systems.
  3. Analyse the labour markets and the international flows of workers in the different phases of contemporary economic growth.
  4. Apply, with historical perspective, new experiences of industrialisation to developing countries.
  5. Assess ethical commitment in professional activity.
  6. Capacity to adapt to changing environments.
  7. Capacity to continue future learning independently, acquiring further knowledge and exploring new areas of knowledge.
  8. Demonstrate initiative and work independently when required.
  9. Demonstrate motivation regarding the quality of the work performed and sensitivity regarding the consequences on the environment and society.
  10. Describe the dynamic aspects of economic activity, taking as a reference the main phases of contemporary economic growth, and identify the main factors that have conditioned it.
  11. Describe the historical evolution of the strategic factors determining the development and location of industry.
  12. Explain the theoretical models of economy, in relation to their basic assumptions, using different historical cases as a reference.
  13. Identify the main causes of periods of economic stability, recession and crisis, on a regional, national and international scale.
  14. Identify the problems faced by economic agents when making decisions in uncertain conditions, based on different historical experiences.
  15. Identify the problems of economic agents on the basis of different historic experiences.
  16. Organise work, in terms of good time management and organisation and planning.
  17. Perform an integrated analysis of the financial and physical flows of the economy, on the basis of different historical experiences.
  18. Perform an integrated analysis of the physical, financial, and migratory flows of the economy, on the basis of different historical experiences.
  19. Select and generate the information needed for each problem, analyse it and make decisions based on this information.
  20. Summarise the different experiences of economic development, on a regional, national and international scale.
  21. Work as part of a team and be able to argue own proposals and validate or refuse the arguments of others in a reasonable manner.

Content

INTRODUCTION. The Spanish economy growth in the long run

 

TOPIC 1. INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND FAILURE OF AGRARIAN AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGIES (1789-1890)

1. The reform of the State

2. The limits of agrarian expansion

3. Economic liberalization and internationalization

4. Banking and railways

5. Problems of the first industrialization

 

TOPIC 2. FIRST GLOBALIZATION AND PERIOD OF ENTREGUERRES (1890-1936)

1. From the 1898 colonial crisis to WWI

2. The impact of WWI on a neutral economy

3. Structural change and growth in the 1920s

4. The 1930s crisis and the II Republic (1931-1936)

 

TOPIC 3. THE CIVIL WAR AND FIRST TWO DECADES OF FRANCO’S DICTATORSHIP (1936-1951).

1. The Spanish economy during the civil war (1936-1939)

2. The organization of the "New State"

3. International isolation and autarky.

4. Market intervention: rationing and black Markets

 

TOPIC 4. IMPORT SUBSTITUTION INDUSTRIALIZATION (ISI) (1951-1959).

1. Cold War, US help and the reduction of interventionism.

2. Import Substitution Industrialization

3. Rent increase and structural change

4. The end of autarky: The 1959 Stabilization Plan

 

TOPIC 5. THE DEVELOPMENT YEARS (1960-1973)

1. Reintegration into international economy and market-opening measures

2. Agricultural modernization

3. Accelerated industrialization

4. The service sector: the specialization in Tourism

5. Migrations and labor market

6. The improvement in social well being

 

TOPIC 6. ECONOMIC CRISIS AND POLITICAL TRANSITION (1975-1985)

1. The 1970s oil shocks (1973, 1979)

2. Anti-crisis policies: Pactos de la Moncloa (1977)

3. The birth of the Welfare State

4. Industrial and banking crisis, and massive unemployment

5. Industrial restructuring

6. Towards Integration into the European Community

 

TOPIC 7. INTEGRATION INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION (1986-1998)

1. The construction of theEC

2. Economic consequences of theintegration into the EC

3. Structural reforms

4. Investment, the engine for growth

5. Dominance of the service sector


 TOPIC 8. TWO SECOND CENTURIES BALANCE: PRODUCTIVITY AND WELL-BEING

Methodology

The planned methodology of Spanish Economic History is conventional and face-to-face learning and involves five complementary learning activities:

1. Lectures. 

2. Practical classes

3. Individual work by the students (reading and information search)

4. Tutorials

5. Campus virtual (webpage)

 

The proposed teaching methodology may undergo some modifications according to the restrictions imposed by the health authorities on on-campus courses.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 33 1.32 18, 3, 6, 1, 7, 11, 15, 13, 9, 19, 20, 4, 5
Practical classes 12.5 0.5 6, 1, 16, 19
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 7 0.28 7, 8, 16, 21, 5
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation of practical exercises 44 1.76 1, 16, 19
Reading and independent study 50.5 2.02 7, 16, 19

Assessment

The evaluation will consist of various activities developed during the course. 

Evaluation criteria

Value over the final grade

1. Midterm exam 1

35%

2. Midterm exam 2

35%

3. Practical exercises

20%

4. Class participation

10%

TOTAL

100%

 Each midterm exam will consist of 20 test questions (50% of the final exam grade) and two essay questions (50% of the final exam grade). Each of the correct answers to the test questions will score 0.5 points and a penalty of -0.125 for each incorrect answer.The examination questions correspond to the subject explained in the theory and practice sessions and to the content of the teaching materials indicated by the teacher.

Calendar of evaluation activities

The dates of the evaluation activities (midterm exams, exercises in the classroom, assignments, ...) will be announced well in advance during the semester.

The date of the final exam is  scheduled in the assessment calendar of the Faculty.

"The dates of evaluation activities cannot be modified, unless there is an exceptional and duly justified reason why an evaluation activity cannot be carried out. In this case, the degree coordinator will contact both the teaching staff and the affected student, and a new date will be scheduled within the same academic period to make up for the missed evaluation activity." Section 1 of Article 115. Calendar of evaluation activities (Academic Regulations UAB). Students of the Faculty of Economics and Business, who in accordance with the previous paragraph need to change an evaluation activity date must process the request by filling out an Application for exams' reschedule https://eformularis.uab.cat/group/deganat_feie/application-for-exams-reschedule

 

Grade revision process

After all grading activities have ended, students will be informed of the date and way in which the course grades will be published. Students will be also be informed of the procedure, place, date and time of grade revision following University regulations.

 

Retake Process

"To be eligible to participate in the retake process, it is required for students to have been previously been evaluated for at least two thirds of the total evaluation activities of the subject." Section 3 of Article 112 ter. The recovery (UAB Academic Regulations). Additionally, it is required that the student to have achieved an average grade of the subject between 3.5 and 4.9.

The retake exam will consist of 4 essay questions and all of them will score equally.

The date of the retake exam will be posted in the calendar of evaluation activities of the Faculty. Students who take this exam and pass, will get a grade of 5 for the subject. If the student does not pass the retake, the grade will remain unchanged, and hence, student will fail the course.

 

Irregularities in evaluation activities

In spite of other disciplinary measures deemed appropriate, and in accordance with current academic regulations, "in the case that the student makes any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation activity, it will be graded with a 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that can be instructed. In case of various irregularities occur in the evaluation of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0". Section 10 of Article 116. Results of the evaluation. (UAB Academic Regulations).

 

The proposed evaluation activities may undergo some changes according o the restrictions imposed by the health authorities on on-campus courses.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Midterm exam 1 35% 1.5 0.06 17, 18, 3, 2, 6, 1, 7, 8, 11, 10, 12, 14, 15, 13, 9, 16, 19, 20, 4, 21, 5
Midterm exam 2 35% 1.5 0.06 17, 18, 3, 2, 6, 1, 7, 8, 11, 10, 12, 14, 15, 13, 9, 16, 19, 20, 4, 21, 5

Bibliography

The most useful textbook is this general overview: 

Gabriel Tortella (2000), The Development of Modern Spain. An Economic History of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, Harvard University Press.

 

You can also use for specific subjects: 

Betrán, C.; Pons, M.A. (Eds) (2020), Historical Turning Points in Spanish Economic Growth and Development, 1808-2008. Palgrave Macmillan.

Herranz-Loncán, A. (2007), "Infrastructure investment and Spanish economic growth, 1850-1935," Explorations in Economic History, 44(3), p. 452-468.

Malefakis, Edward E. (1970), Agrarian Reform and Peasant Revolution in Spain, Origins of the Civil War, New Haven: Yale University Press

Prados de la Escosura L., et al (2017), Spanish Economic Growth, 1850-2015, Palgrave Studies in Economic History (free downloadable)

Prados de la Escosura, L et al. (2012), “Economic Reforms and Growth in Franco’s Spain”, Revista de Historia Económica, 30(1), pp. 45-90.

Ringrose, David (1970), Transportation and Economic Stagnation in Spain, 1750-1850, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Richard Herr, An Historical Essay on Modern Spain, The Library of Iberian resources online.