Revista de Historia Industrial — Industrial History Review

Matés-Barco, Juan Manuel, and María Vázquez-Fariñas, eds. 2023. The Age of Global Economic Crises (1929-2022). Abingdon: Routledge, 220 pp.

2024-03-07T12:40:38+00:00

Matés-Barco, Juan Manuel, and María Vázquez-Fariñas, eds. 2023. The Age of Global Economic Crises (1929-2022). Abingdon: Routledge, 220 pp.

Sánchez-Mosquera, Marcial, y Pablo Gutiérrez González, eds. 2022. Mercado de trabajo e Instituciones en el Sur de Europa. Un análisis de largo plazo. Madrid: Sílex Universidad, 378 pp.

2024-03-07T12:45:18+00:00

Sánchez-Mosquera, Marcial, y Pablo Gutiérrez González, eds. 2022. Mercado de trabajo e Instituciones en el Sur de Europa. Un análisis de largo plazo. Madrid: Sílex Universidad, 378 pp.

Núñez Romero-Balmas, Gregorio, y María Vázquez-Fariñas, eds. 2022. Finanzas e industrialización en España. Jaén: UJA Editorial, 402 pp.

2024-03-07T12:49:35+00:00

Núñez Romero-Balmas, Gregorio, y María Vázquez-Fariñas, eds. 2022. Finanzas e industrialización en España. Jaén: UJA Editorial, 402 pp.

Castillo Hidalgo, Daniel, Francisco Quintana Navarro y Sergio Solbes Ferri. 2023. La diferencia insular II. El modelo fiscal de Canarias en perspectiva histórica. Fiscalidad y gasto público en la etapa contemporánea: del sistema de franquicias comercial

2024-03-07T12:53:58+00:00

Castillo Hidalgo, Daniel, Francisco Quintana Navarro y Sergio Solbes Ferri. 2023. La diferencia insular II. El modelo fiscal de Canarias en perspectiva histórica. Fiscalidad y gasto público en la etapa contemporánea: del sistema de franquicias comerciales al REF de 1972. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 354 pp.

Blasco Martel, Yolanda, y Eloi Serrano Robles, coord. 2022. 55 años de Banca Cooperativa. Caja de Ingenieros, una historia de futuro. Barcelona: Plataforma Editorial, 145 pp.

2024-03-07T12:58:53+00:00

Blasco Martel, Yolanda, y Eloi Serrano Robles, eds. 2022. 55 años de Banca Cooperativa. Caja de Ingenieros, una historia de futuro. Barcelona: Plataforma Editorial, 145 pp.

The failure of Algeria’s industrialization strategy, 1967–1989: a new structural economics perspective

2023-03-15T10:40:48+00:00

Following the theoretical framework of New Structural Economics, this article attempts to explain why Algeria’s industrialization strategy failed over the period 1967–1989. Based on this approach, this paper shows that the overdevelopment of a big push industrialization strategy in Algeria since independence, which prioritized capital-intensive heavy industry, violates the comparative advantage principle identified by its factor endowments and gives rise to domestic market distortions and the misallocation of scarce resources. Simultaneously, to scaffold such a development mode, the Algerian government put forth an organic yet deeply distorted system. We conclude that the experience engendered serious weaknesses in Algeria’s industrial structure and planning, and it resulted in an unbalanced economic structure. Thus, Algeria’s industrialization strategy was disappointing in terms of economic outcomes and impact. This failure is often perceived as one of the main origins of the political, social and economic crisis faced by the country for more than a decade. Our findings suggest that the redesign of growth and industrialization strategies should better reflect Algeria’s endowments structure and level of development. Indeed, consistency of a broad-based and industry-based economy with its comparative advantage is one of the best ways to achieve high sustainable economic growth in Algeria.

The problems of autarkic military industrialization and its restructuring in Franco’s Spain: a case study on the National Company of Optics (ENOSA)

2022-10-17T18:20:23+00:00

The National Industrial Institute (INI) was founded as an instrument for State control of the economy in a context of autarky typical of the early years of Franco’s regime. Its corporate philosophy and actions were similar to other economic policies of that time, both in Europe and in the United States. Among the enterprises linked to this holding, the National Company of Optics (ENOSA) was created in 1950 with the participation of military and scientific institutions. The company aimed to manufacture lenses and precision instruments for the Army using domestic technology. However, it failed to reduce its dependence on imports, particularly from Germany. After many difficulties, it was restructured in 1961, and its production diversified towards the fabrication of teaching materials. We have addressed the history of ENOSA as a case study on the failure of the autarkic industrialization model and the reorganization that the INI companies had to tackle in response to the new socio-economic conditions of developmentalism. In conclusion, we can say that ENOSA was a failed experiment in creating a national technology company. However, it did eventually achieve notable projection in the field of educational innovation

Natural gas, coal or oil? The determinants of the delayed energy transition in Northern Spain, 1958-1974

2023-02-06T10:46:42+00:00

This article seeks to shed light on why the energy transition to natural gas in Northern Spain was delayed until the late 1980s. This is addressed by analyzing the failed plans to supply natural gas to the Cantabrian Coast, first via the Franco-Spanish pipeline from Lacq (Southwestern France), and, later, through a regasification plant to be built in Bilbao, in the period 1958–1974. The linking of the Franco-Spanish gas supply networks is a fairly recent achievement, having occurred first with the Calahorra-Lacq pipeline in 1993, and then more recently in 2006 with the Euskadour pipeline. Through the use of a number of documentary sources, found mainly in the archives of Asturias and the Basque Country, as well as an interview with one of the chief figures behind this development, the paper examines the reasons behind the failure of both plans, and the consequences this has had for any further development of the gas industry in this area.

Spreading nuclear energy in Southern Europe: the large projects in Catalonia

2022-09-26T17:20:58+00:00

The expected growth of electricity demand, jointly with the insufficient capacity of the traditional production technologies (based on hydraulic and thermal power plants), led to the electrical producer companies in Catalonia planning the construction of eight nuclear power units of around 1000 MW each. The consequences of the international oil crisis on energy demand was behind the cutting back of the project a few years after. By the mid 1970s, only four units had received provisional authorization. Contrary to what had happened with first-generation nuclear reactors, the promoter companies were the main agents of the decisions related to site election, technology, and providers, which were only regulated in terms of the compulsory administrative authorization, minimum required national participation, and nuclear safety principles.

Technological and corporate innovation in Spanish specialised metallurgy: the case of Rivière (1860–1924)

2022-09-05T07:02:56+00:00

Metallurgy is, along with textiles, the leading industry of the first industrial revolution in Spain, a feature highlighted in the literature from very early on. One of its sub-sectors, that of metal transformation, has received very special attention from researchers. However, certain gaps still persist in some branches, particularly those relating to various factors of the production system at the factory level, such as capital (equipment and energy), labour, and corporate structure. Herein lies the main motivation for this research, which addresses the reasons behind the success of medium-sized companies in specialised metallurgy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, using a case study methodology, primary sources, a long-term perspective and a comparative procedure. The text comprises three main sections, covering the formation of the Rivière company, the production system of this company, and its organisational innovations.