Calendrier du 27 novembre 2024
Economic History Seminar
Du 27/11/2024 de 12:30 à 14:00
R1-09
BETRAN Concepcion (U. Valencia)
"The 1930s crisis and the Second Spanish Republic: Challenge and response"
Unfettered by the gold standard, Spain’s economic performance in the 1930s should in principle have looked a lot more like those of the United States and the United Kingdom than those of France and Belgium. But the Second Republic’s (1931-1936) response to the economic crisis was divisive and ultimately incomplete. We attribute this outcome to political economy forces. Out study is based on detailed information on government expenditures, tariffs, and Most Favored Nations’ agreements. We match these various policy instruments with election results at the provincial level. Attuned to its support among industrial workers and landless peasants, the leftist first government (1931-1933) was interventionist and favored tariffs on manufacturing; aligned with large landowners and small farmers, the rightist second government (1933-1936) leaned toward austerity and advocated agricultural tariffs. Both governments adopted MFNs to mitigate the effect of tariffs. We conclude that the divergence in policy deepened the prevailing political and social divide between left and right.