Of Firms and Captives: Railway Infrastructures and the Economics of Forced Labour (Spain, 1937–1957)

Abstract

This article deals with the key economic points that explain the evolution of the deployment of prisoners and prisoners of war on extending and reconstructing railways during the Spanish civil war and Franco’s dictatorship. The first part presents a quantitative approach to the works carried out during these periods. Subsequently, an analysis is made of the three main variables of work according to institutional change and the business structure of the Spanish railway: prisoners of war working for private railway companies, prisoners of war working for army battalions, and prisoners working for private construction companies. Thanks to these varied situations, we can better understand how labour supply and productivity levels related to company strategies regarding this kind of labour in different contexts, such as the war economy, post-war reconstruction, and dictatorship, until 1957.