Book Chapter

Inequality in Early Modern Spain: New evidence from the Ensenada Cadastre in Castile, c. 1750

  • Esteban Nicolini
  • Fernando Ramos-Palencia

This chapter addresses income inequality by offering new evidence based on the Ensenada Cadastre, a unique database on Castilian households circa 1750. We find that inequality in 18th-century Spain was substantial, especially in urban and/or highly populated areas. There was also a positive – but somewhat weaker – relationship not only between inequality and per capita income but also between inequality and poverty. We posit that extreme economic inequality was likely responsible for numerous episodes of social conflict. Finally, the extent of formalized charity and social spending was less than in other Western European regions.

  • Keywords:
  • economic inequality,
  • economic history,
  • spanish economic history,
  • Iberian peninsula,
  • pre-industrial age,
+ Show More

Esteban Nicolini

University of Madrid Carlos III, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-2078-6720

Fernando Ramos-Palencia

University Pablo de Olavide, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-4677-2730

  1. Alfani G. and Di Tullio M. (2019), The Lion’s Share: Inequality and the Rise of the Fiscal State in Preindustrial Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  2. Álvarez B. and Ramos-Palencia F. (2018), Human capital and earnings in eighteenth-century Castile, «Explorations in Economic History» 67, 1: 105-133.
  3. Álvarez-Nogal C. and L. Prados De La Escosura L. (2007), The decline of Spain (1500-1850): Conjectural estimates, «European Review of Economic History», 11: 319-66.
  4. Álvarez-Nogal C. and L. Prados De La Escosura L. (2013), The rise and fall of Spain (1270-1850), «Economic History Review,» 66, 1: 1-37.
  5. Bennassar B. (1989), Historia de los Españoles, Siglos VI-XX, Vol. I, Crítica, Barcelona.
  6. Bourguignon F. (2015), The Globalization of Inequality, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
  7. Brea-Martínez G. and Pujadas-Mora J.M. (2018), Estimating long-term socioeconomic inequality in southern Europe: The Barcelona area, 1481-1880, «European Review of Economic History» DOI: 10.1093/ereh/hey017
  8. Brea-Martínez G. and Pujadas-Mora J.M. (2018), Transformación y desigualdad económica en la industrialización en el área de Barcelona, 1715-1860, «Revista de Historia Económica», 36, 2: 241-273.
  9. Camarero Bullón C. (1987), El libro de mayor hacendado, ¿una denominación equivocada?, «Estudios Geográficos», 48, 188: 333-58.
  10. Camarero Bullón C. (1999), La lucha contra la falsedad de las declaraciones en el Catastro de Ensenada (1750-1756), «Revista CT/Catastro», 37: 7-33.
  11. Camarero Bullón C. (2002), Vasallos y pueblos castellanos ante una averiguación más allá de lo fiscal: El Catastro de Ensenada, 1749-1756, in Durán I. and Camarero Bullón C. (eds.), El Catastro de Ensenada: Magna Averiguación Fiscal para Alivio de los Vasallos y Mejor Conocimiento de los Reinos, 1749-1756, Madrid: 113-388.
  12. Comín F. and Yun-Casalilla B. (2012), Spain: From composite monarchy to nation-state, 1492-1914, in Comín F., Yun-Casalilla B. and O’brien P. (eds.), The Rise of Fiscal States: A Global History, 1500-1914, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 243-48.
  13. Domínguez Ortiz A. (2004), España Tres Milenios de Historia, Marcial Pons Historia, Madrid.
  14. Donézar J.M. (1996), Riqueza y Propiedad en la Castilla del Antiguo Régimen. La Provincia de Toledo del Siglo XVIII, Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, Madrid.
  15. Espín-Sánchez J.A., Gil-Guirado A., Giraldo-Paez W.D. and Vickers C., Labor inequality in pre-industrial Mediterranean Spain: Murcia in the 18th century, «Explorations in Economic History», 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2019.05.002
  16. Foster J., Greer J. and Thorbecke E. (2010), The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measures: 25 years later, «Journal of Economic Inequality», 8, 4: 491-524.
  17. García-Montero H. (2015), Long-term trends in wealth inequality in Catalonia, 1400-1800: Initial results, «Dondena Working Paper», 79.
  18. García-Montero H. (2016), The nutritional status of manufacturing workers and craftsmen in Central Spain in the eighteenth century, «Revista de Historia Industrial», 64: 51-75.
  19. González Enciso A. (1980), Estado e Industria en el S.XVIII: La Fábrica de Guadalajara, Fundación Universitaria Española, Madrid.
  20. GRUPO 75 (1977), La Economía del Antiguo Régimen. La ‘Renta Nacional’ de la Corona de Castilla, Madrid.
  21. Herr R. (1988), España y la Revolución del Siglo XVIII, Madrid.
  22. Lindert P. (2000), Three centuries of inequality in Britain and America, in Atkinson A.B. and Bourguignon F. (eds.), Handbook of Income Distribution, vol. 1, Elsevier, North Holland.
  23. Lindert P.H. (1998), Poor relief before the welfare state: Britain versus the continent, 1780-1880, «European Review of Economic History», 2: 101-140.
  24. Matilla A. (1947), La Única Contribución y el Catastro de la Ensenada, Ministerio de Hacienda, Madrid.
  25. Milanovic B., Lindert P.H. and Williamson J.G. (2011), Pre-industrial inequality, «Economic Journal», 121: 255-272.
  26. Nicolini e. and Ramos-Palencia F. (2016), Comparing income and wealth inequality in pre-industrial economies: Lessons from 18th-century Spain, «European Historical Economics Society», working papers 0095.
  27. Nicolini E. and Ramos-Palencia F. (2016), Decomposing income inequality in a backward pre-industrial economy: Old Castile (Spain) in the middle of the eighteenth century, «Economic History Review», 69, 3: 747-772.
  28. Ravallion M. (2016), The Economics of Poverty. History, Measurement, and Policy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  29. Reher D.S. (1990), Town and Country in Pre-industrial Spain. Cuenca 1550-1870, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 37-43.
  30. Reis J. (2017), Deviant behaviour? Inequality in Portugal 1565-1770, «Cliometrica», 11, 3: 297-319.
  31. Ruiz Torres P. (2008), Reformismo e ilustración, in Fontana J. and Villares R. (eds.), Historia de España, Vol. 5, Crítica, Barcelona and Madrid.
  32. Ryckbosch W. (2016), Economic inequality and growth before the industrial revolution: A case study of the Low Countries (fourteenth-nineteenth centuries), «European Review of Economic History», 20, 1: 1-22.
  33. Santiago-Caballero C. (2011), Income inequality in central Spain, 1690-1800, «Explorations in Economic History», 48, 1: 83-96.
  34. Van Babel B. and Rijpma A. (2016), How important were formalized charity and social spending before the rise of the welfare state? A long‐run analysis of selected Western European cases, 1400-1850, «Economic History Review», 69, 1.
  35. Van Zanden J.L. (1995), Tracing the beginning of the Kuznets curve: Western Europe during the Early Modern Period, «Economic History Review», 48, 4: 643-664.
  36. Vilar P. (1987), Cataluña en la España Moderna, Vol. 2, Crítica, Barcelona.
  37. Vilar P. (1999), Hidalgos, Amotinados y Guerrilleros, Crítica, Barcelona.
  38. Williamson J.G. (2002), Land, labor, and globalization in the Third World, 1870-1940, «Journal of Economic History», 62, 1: 55-85.
  39. Yun-Casalilla B. (1987), Sobre la Transición al Capitalismo en Castilla. Economía y Sociedad en Tierra de Campos 1500-1814, Junta de Castilla y León: 463-64.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2020
  • Pages: 255-273
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2020 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2020
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2020 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Inequality in Early Modern Spain: New evidence from the Ensenada Cadastre in Castile, c. 1750

Authors

Esteban Nicolini, Fernando Ramos-Palencia

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-053-5.18

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2020

Copyright Information

© 2020 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Disuguaglianza economica nelle società preindustriali: cause ed effetti / Economic inequality in pre-industrial societies: causes and effect

Editors

Giampiero Nigro

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

488

Publication Year

2020

Copyright Information

© 2020 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-053-5

ISBN Print

978-88-5518-052-8

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-053-5

eISBN (xml)

978-88-5518-054-2

Series Title

Datini Studies in Economic History

Series ISSN

2975-1241

Series E-ISSN

2975-1195

323

Fulltext
downloads

564

Views

Export Citation

1,339

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,191

Book Chapters

3,763,352

Fulltext
downloads

4,396

Authors

from 923 Research Institutions

of 65 Nations

64

scientific boards

from 348 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,246

Referees

from 379 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations