Regional Industrialisation without National Growth: The Catalan Industrialization and the Growth of Spanish Economy (1830-1861)

Abstract

This paper has two main objectives. First, it provides a stylised description of the Catalan industrial path of the period 1830-1861. Second, it reviews the evolution of the Catalan industry in the Spanish context and, thus, can serve to describe the relative importance of the Catalan industrial experience. Consequently, it is mainly devoted to computing and analysing the growth rates of Catalan industries during the early phase of industrialisation. The results show that Catalonia experienced a true process of industrialisation during the period 1830 to 1861, but that its contribution in rapid increase in Spanish GDP was relatively small.