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Spanish Economic History

Code: 108076 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Economics FB 1

Contact

Name:
Carmen Sarasua Garcia
Email:
carmen.sarasua@uab.cat

Teachers

Lei Shi
Marc Rivas Lopez

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

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


Objectives and Contextualisation

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.

 


Learning Outcomes

  1. CM20 (Competence) Report on the field of historical knowledge by evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
  2. CM21 (Competence) Solve the problems faced by economic agents, when they have to make decisions in conditions of uncertainty, based on different historical experiences.
  3. CM22 (Competence) Propose organisational, technological and evolution-monitoring solutions in historical, social, economic and environmental terms.
  4. CM23 (Competence) Comprehensively report on the physical, financial and migratory flows of the economy, based on different historical experiences.
  5. KM18 (Knowledge) Identify the economic agents that make up an economy, identifying how they have been interrelated to date and how they are currently interrelated.
  6. KM19 (Knowledge) Explain economic problems in historical terms.
  7. KM20 (Knowledge) Indicate theoretical models of the economy taking as a reference the historical events that gave rise to them.
  8. SM19 (Skill) Adapt organisations to national and international economic institutions, taking into account the various historical facts that have shaped them.
  9. SM20 (Skill) Form leadership models based on the different historical experiences of financial, worker and physical flows of the economy.
  10. SM21 (Skill) Model the current economic biodiversity, ecological transition and sustainable development problems, taking into account the evolutionary possibilities of economic systems.
  11. SM22 (Skill) Critically explain the causes that have historically led to periods of economic stability, recession and crisis, on a regional, national and international scale.

Content

INTRODUCTION. The Spanish economy growth in the long run (19th and 20th centuries)

TOPIC 1. RESOURCES, INSTITUTIONS, INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT (1789-1890)

  1. Population, urbanization, human capital
  2. Natural conditions and the limits of agrarian growth
  3. State Reform: economic liberalization and disentailments
  4. Problems of the first industrialization: textile, iron, mining sector.
  5. Domestic and foreign trade. The transport system: railways and cabotage
  6. Banking and Treasury

TOPIC 2. FIRST GLOBALIZATION AND INTERWAR YEARS (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 Depression of the 1930s and the II Republic (1931-1936). The Agrarian reform (1932)

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

  1. The Spanish economy during the civil war (1936-1939)
  2. The political context: organization of the "New State”, International isolation and autarky.
  3. Market intervention: fall in output, rationing and inflation

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

  1. Cold War, American Aid and the tempering of interventionism.
  2. Import Substitution Industrialization
  3. Growth of GDP and pc income, and structural change
  4. The end of autarky: The 1959 Stabilization Plan

TOPIC 5. ERA OF DEVELOPMENTALISM (1960-1973)

  1. Reintegration into the international economy and consolidation of liberalizing measures
  2. Modernization of agriculture
  3. Accelerated industrialization
  4. The service sector: the specialization in Tourism
  5. The labor market: internal and external migrations and participation rate
  6. The improvement of income per capita and living standards

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

  1. Impact of the Double Oil Shocks (1973, 1979)
  2. Adjustment policies: the Moncloa Pacts (1977)
  3. Fiscal reform and consolidation of the Welfare State
  4. Industrial and banking crisis, and mass unemployment
  5. Spain, towards the European integration

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

  1. The construction of the European Union
  2. Economic effects of the integration into the EU
  3. Structural reforms
  4. Investment, the engine of growth
  5. Dominance of the tertiary sector

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

  1. Growth of productivity, income per capita and well-being
  2. Inequality in regions, households and individuals

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 32.5 1.3
Practical classes 17 0.68
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 8 0.32
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation of practical exercises 37.5 1.5
Reading and independent study 49.5 1.98

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)

6. Use of AI. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed at any stage. Any assignment that includes AI-generated content will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty in the grade for the activity, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

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

Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Midterm exam 1 40% 1.5 0.06 CM20, CM21, CM22, CM23, KM18, KM19, KM20, SM19, SM20, SM21, SM22
Midterm exam 2 45% 2 0.08 CM20, CM21, CM22, CM23, KM18, KM19, KM20, SM19, SM20, SM21, SM22
Three exercises at the classroom 15% of the final mark 2 0.08 CM20, CM21, CM22, CM23, KM18, KM19, KM20, SM19, SM20, SM21, SM22

The evaluation will consist of:

Three practical exercises. Each exercise weights 5% of the course grade.

- A midterm exam consisting of two parts, each worth 50% of the exam grade. The first part consists of twenty multiple-choice questions that will be scored as follows: 0.5 points for a correct answer, -0.17 points for an incorrect answer, and 0 points for an unanswered question. The second part consists of four short-answer questions with a maximum score of 2.5 points each. The weight of the midterm exam is 40% of the course grade.
- A final exam consisting of two parts, each worth 50% of the exam grade. The first part consists of twenty multiple-choice questions that will be scored as follows: 0.5 points for a correct answer, -0.17 points for an incorrect answer, and 0 points for an unanswered question. The second part consists of four short-answer questions with a maximum score of 2.5 points each. The weight of the final exam is 45% of the course grade.
 
The questions will focus on the material covered in theory and practical sessions, as well as the content of the teaching materials indicated by the faculty.

The course will be considered passed if the following two requirements are met:

1.         The average grade for the course is equal to or higher than 4.9

2.         The final exam grade is equal to or higher than 4.

If a student meets the first requirement but not the second, they will receive an average course grade of 4.5 and will be allowed to take the retake exam, in accordance with the provisions set out in the "Retake Process" section found below.

If a student meets the second requirement but not the first, or meets neither, they will receive the overall course graderesulting from the direct application of the previously stated weightings and will be allowed to take the retake exam, in accordance with the provisions set out in the "Retake Process" section found below.

The questions will be on the topics explained in the theory and practical sessions and on the content of the readings and teaching materials indicated by the group professor.

Synthesis test: students who wish to opt for the synthesis test will have to apply by e-mail to the group's professor before February 28. The synthetis test will take place on the day of the final exam set by the Faculty. It will consist of forty multiple-choice questions and eight essay questions concerning all the different parts of the subject, practical and theoretical.

CAUTION:

1. A student is considered UNEVALUABLE if he has completed less than 30% of the assessed activities. "The qualification of UNEVALUABLE implies exhausting all the rights inherents to enrolment in the subject". 

2. Only midterm and final exams can be reprogrammed, always exceptionally and after obtaining the explicit aproval of the Grade Coordinator. All other types oftests performed during the course will NOT be reprogrammed.

3. This subject does not offer the option for comprehensive evaluation.

 

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 scheduledin 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 thiscase, 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 264. 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: e-Formulari per a la reprogramació de proves.

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 2 of Article 261. The recovery (UAB Academic Regulations). Additionally, it is required that the student to have achieved an average grade of the subject greater than or equal to 3.5 and less than 5.

The date of the retake exam will be posted in the calendar of evaluation activities of the Faculty. Students who take this examand 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.

The retake exam has two parts, each worth 50% ofthe exam grade. The first part consists of twenty multiple-choice questions that will be scored as follows: 0.5 points for a correct answer, -0.17 points for an incorrect answer, and 0 points for an unanswered question. The second part consists of four short-answer questions with a maximum score of 2.5 points each.

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 makesany 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 11 of Article 266. Results of the evaluation. (UAB Academic Regulations).


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.

Carreras, Albert; Tafunell, Xavier (2021) Between Empire and Globalization. An Economic History of Modern Spain. Palgrave Macmillan.

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

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.


Software


The basic software used will be Power Point, Excel and Word.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.