Marc Badia-Miró

LA FIABILIDAD DE LA ASIGNACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA EN LAS ESTADÍSTICAS DE COMERCIO EXTERIOR: AMÉRICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE (1908-1930) *

The statistical accuracy of Historical Foreign Trade Sources has been stated by Federico and Tena (1991) and Tena (1985, 19991 y 1992). This article follows his works in the most suspect field: geographical distribution. We have use Latin American Coal Trade Data among 1908-1930. Most international trade, considering weight, was coal trade; meanwhile it is an ideal product to isolate geographical effects. Statistical disagreements persistence makes us to think this is not a random phenomenon. We have specified an econometric model based on distance. Results show that including geography we can understand statistical disagreements. As a consequence

Geography, Policy, or Productivity? Regional Trade in Five South American Countries, 1910-1950

Regional trade in South America since independence has long been much smaller than would be expected if geography were the only constraint on trade. Several potential explanations exist: low technological and demand complementarities; low productivity; high natural and policy barriers to trade. Focusing on the latter explanations, policy makers have long advocated a South American/Southern Cone Free Trade Area–proposed as early as 1889. Would reductions in trade costs have been sufficient to significantly raise trade, or was trade low for other reasons? We study bilateral trade between 1910 and 1950, when large external shocks altered global supply and demand. These shocks help us show that intra-regional trade could have been boosted with reductions in trade costs. South American regional trade could have benefitted from more benign trade policy or better infrastructure. Regional trade in textiles, which took off from the 1930s, supports our argument that trade improved when trade costs fell.

The Onset of the English Agricultural Revolution: Climate Factors and Soil Nutrients

The English Agricultural Revolution began during a period of climate change in which temperatures decreased significantly. Lower temperatures meant less bacterial activity, a slower release of mineral nitrogen into cultivated soils, and a shorter growing season for crops—a combination that tended to diminish yields. The English farmers reacted by increasing the flow of organic matter and manure into the soil, thus mitigating the negative effect of the colder temperatures to some extent. When the temperatures rose again, the faster mineralization of soil organic matter led to bountiful yields that encouraged English farmers to continue with these innovative strategies. The upshot is that the English agricultural revolution was more a discovery than an invention, that the English agricultural revolution was more a discovery than an invention, induced by a combination of climate challenges, social and institutional settings, and market incentives.

The First World War and coal trade geography in Latin America and the Caribbean (1890-1930)

Abstract This paper aims to illustrate the dynamics of coal trade between Latin America and its main trade partners, i.e., the USA, Great Britain, and Germany, before and after the enormous disruption caused by the First World War. The coal trade was used as an indicator of modernization for Latin American countries, given that oil was at that time of secondary importance. Energy imports have determined the possibilities of each Latin American country in its process of development. Here, we address this question and place special emphasis on supply channels, concluding that the trade link with main suppliers was of key significance. Although this was very clear by the end of the period, the process had started well before the First World War, at least for the majority of LA&C countries. These points are developed through a gravity model applied to the bilateral coal trade. The importance of the market supplier share is addressed through cluster methodologies.

The Long Run Development of Chile and the Natural Resources Curse. Linkages, Policy and Growth, 1850-1950

This chapter analyses the effects of Natural Resources on the Chilean economy in the long run (1850 - 1950). Specifically, the authors focus their attention on the mining cycles (nitrates and copper) and their impact on the mining activity. We also compare it with the evolution of the industry and whole economy, and how this has affected the economic growth of the country. In that sense, the industrial performance in Chile at the end of the 19th century until the Great Depression is still under debate. The optimistic view of Kirsch (1977) forehead the pessimistic view of Lagos (1966) and Palma (1979). The new data and its analyses shows a neutral effect of the Natural Resources in the industrial development.

Growth and Regional Disparities in South America, 1890–1960

Most of the regional inequality in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay stems from differences within the countries rather than from disparities across them. Between the end of the nineteenth century and the second third of the twentieth century, Chile evinced considerable inequality and a U-shaped evolution (reduction of inequality and a slight increase in the 1960s), Uruguay a monotonically declining inequality, and Argentina a U-shaped evolution with decreasing disparities until the beginning of the twentieth century and increasing inequality thereafter. Together, the subnational units exhibited substantial inequality at the end of the nineteenth century, a low in the 1940s, and another local maximum that ended with the collapse of the Import Substitution Industrialization (isi) polices of the 1960s and 1970s. Convergence at the national level depended on periods and countries: convergence in Uruguay in all sub-periods; provincial convergence in Argentina only during the first globalization; and a general convergence in Chile that was hampered by outliers during the first globalization. Convergence at the regional level occurred during the first globalization but not during the mid-twentieth century.

The Impact of Nitrates on the Chilean Economy, 1880–1930

This chapter explores the effects of nitrate exports on the Chilean economy between 1880 and 1930. Main features of the saltpeter industry are presented and combining quantitative and qualitative means the contribution of nitrate exports to the Chilean economic performance is evaluated. Specifically, the chapter examines the direct contribution to economic growth, the value of export returns, the ability to import, the impact on external economies and the effect on productive linkages.

Nuevas perspectivas en la investigación docente de la historia económica

One of the most significant changes in the university legislation approved in Bologna was the impulse of the practical classes at degree studies. The combination of theoretical and practical elements would reinforce the range of knowledge that the university students would obtain in the context of a common European education. Though in some matters the practical education was coming being a habitual matter, in others could have supposed a challenge for the teachers. In the present communication we present some examples of practices and fieldwork realized in the subjects of Economic History, but also with multidisciplinary character, which reinforces the common bows with other related matters. The idea was born in a Project of Educational Innovation of the University of Valladolid.