History of a silent restructuring. The French capital in Spain, c. 1800-1936

Abstract

This article tries to reconstruct the path of the French investment in Spain from the beginning of the 19th century to the start of the Civil War. To do so, we describe the set up and the height of the French investment model during a large part of the 19th century as well as its exhaustion and its subsequent restructuring since the beginning of the 20th century and, especially, in the inter-war period. The role of the French capital in Spain is taken as a case of study to examine the dynamics of the foreign investment in a peripheral country and to analyse how it crosses borders and how it adapts to the host's changes. The exam is carried out to 3 levels: the interactions of the French capital with the Establishment and with its Spanish associates; the involved sectors and their evolution; and the bequest of the French investment in Spain.