Miguel Angel López-Morell

A stable network as a source of entrepreneurial opportunities: The Rothschilds in Spain, 1835-1931

Taking business decisions in large corporations requires the establishment of a competent network to channel information, permit the delegation of routine decisions, and assure the whole process is undertaken in the strictest confidence. Recent theories on social networks and the carrying out of the entrepreneurial function tackle these questions and constitute a new perspective for examining business cases. From this viewpoint, the present article seeks to analyse the entrepreneurial network established in Spain by the House of Rothschild between 1835 and 1931. It was a perfectly structured network that differentiated between agents, clientele, partners, and correspondents in a web of firms and institutions that allowed the Rothschilds to exercise their industrial and financial hegemony and consolidate themselves as the countrys largest investor in the financial, industrial, railway and mining sectors throughout the stated period.

El papel de los Rothschild en la evolución de las finanzas públicas españolas durante el siglo XIX

Este trabajo intenta analizar el papel que desempenaron los capitales movilizados por la Casa de banca Rothschild en la financiacion de los gastos del Estado espanol durante el Siglo XIX. Por lo tanto, se pretende apodar una cronologia elemental de las relaciones de la Casa Rothschild con las finanzas publicas espanolas durante todo el periodo, analizar las operaciones mas significativas, cuantificar su volumen anual agregado y hacer un minimo acercamiento a las variables coste-beneficio que entraron en juego. Para cubrir estos fines se ha contado con fuentes primarias, localizadas en los archivos de las ramas britanica y francesa de los Rothschild, cuyos fondos se han contrastado con los de la Administracion francesa y espanola y de instituciones financieras claves en el periodo, como el Banco de Espana.

The International Mercury Cartel, 1928–1954: Controlling Global Supply

This article describes the features of the international mercury market during the first half of the twentieth century. It analyzes the various market agreements made, their effectiveness, and their consequences. The period studied is little understood, although it was one in which mercury production greatly increased. It was also one that saw persistent efforts at market manipulation, owing to a series of agreements between Spanish and Italian producers that proved very effective until the arrival of shipments of mercury produced by Soviet bloc members and by some developing countries.

De la beneficencia al Estado del Bienestar, pasando por los seguros sociales

The youngest Spanish economic history journal brings us a special issue edited by two recognised experts on the evolution of social policies in Spain, with far-reaching implications for business history. This monograph is another step in an extraordinary, on-going three-year process of academic endeavour in this field, which coincided with the centenary in 2008 of the Instituto Nacional de Previsión (National Institute of Social Security), the immediate forerunner of the current Seguridad Social, the public body responsible for the upkeep of public health, pensions and a large part of the Spanish welfare state. Yet, far from focusing on the development of the legislation and public bodies, these 11 papers analyse how, starting from private and public charity, the country has evolved towards today’s modern systems which combine private management of services with the public social security system. Throughout the twentieth century, this led to the creation of a complex network of health and insurance companies, one of which, Mapfre, has become the largest insurance firm in the country and is now a true multinational company operating in 41 countries, with revenues of e20,470 million in 2010. The issue comprises two main sections. The first takes in three papers and offers a review of the ideology, legislation and political practice regarding the social policies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first two articles, by F. López and M. Esteban, focus on the evolution of charity practices of the Catholic Church that migrated to the municipal governments during the liberal period (1820–1920). It was a policy that was aimed at maintaining calm among workers and one which, in practice, did little to reduce poverty. The authors do underline that it was during this period that legislation was introduced to facilitate the activities of key institutions. Regulatory innovations included, for instance, guidelines for the workings of the cajas de ahorro (savings banks) and benefit societies (assistance societies, mutual assistance, cooperatives and montepı́os – pawnshops with religious origins). There was also legislation dealing with the institution responsible for compensation in cases of industrial accidents (1900), the result of which was that private companies provided insurance for accidents in the workplace. As with the workers’ retirement act (1908), all these initiatives were merely non-binding recommendations, and did not increase the role of the state. The lay reader will find the contribution of F. Comı́n of some interest. This author extends the discussion to the twentieth century by linking the earlier period to Business History Vol. 54, No. 3, June 2012, 483–485