The economic consequences of the Spanish Reconquest : the long-term effects of medieval conquest and colonization
Abstract
This paper shows that a historical process that ended more than five centuries ago, the Reconquest, is very important to explain Spanish regional economic development down to the present day. An indicator measuring the rate of Reconquest reveals a heavily negative effect on current income differences across the Spanish provinces. A main intervening factor in the impact the Reconquest has had is the concentration of economic and political power in a few hands, excluding large segments of the population from access to economic opportunities when Spain entered the industrialization phase. The timing of the effect is consistent with this argument. A general implication of our analysis is that large frontier expansions may favor a political equilibrium among the colonizing agents that is biased toward the elite, creating the conditions for an inegalitarian society, with negative consequences for long-term economic development.
Citation
Oto Peralias , D & Romero-Ávila , D 2016 , ' The economic consequences of the Spanish Reconquest : the long-term effects of medieval conquest and colonization ' , Journal of Economic Growth , vol. 21 , no. 4 , pp. 409–464 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-016-9132-9
Publication
Journal of Economic Growth
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1381-4338Type
Journal article
Description
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (grant ECO2009-13357), the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (grant ECO2012-35430), and the Andalusian Council for Innovation and Science (Excellence Project SEJ-4546).Collections
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