Revista de Historia Industrial — Industrial History Review

Industrial production in Chile during the First Globalisation (1860-1924): a reassessment

Juan Ignacio Pérez Eyzaguirre — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

There is a long-standing debate on the performance of manufacturing industry in Chile during the First Globalisation, both at the qualitative level and through indirect estimates of production. This paper, using information from industrial censuses and a wide range of statistical sources, offers a new estimate of industrial production in Chile between 1860 and 1924, disaggregated into 12 branches of industrial activity. The results show a significant growth of the manufacturing sector during the First Globalisation, closely linked to the expansion of the domestic market caused by the primary-export expansion, and a long phase of contraction that began during the First World War and lasted until the end of the 1930s, when public policies were explicitly oriented towards import-substitution industrialisation.

The rise of the Argentine Nuclear Program and the thwarted dream of industrialization (1950-1984)

Milagros Rocío Rodríguez — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The rise of the Nuclear Program in Argentina took place during the second stage of the process of Import Substitution Industrialization, which encourage local industry and the development of metalworking and electronics. In this context, one of the central aims of the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) was to improve the domestic industry of goods and services in order to supply future nuclear power plants and promote technological autonomy. However, this philosophy began to struggle with the neoliberal reforms that were implemented after 1976. The primary objective of this work is to draw and analyze the main strategies implemented by CNEA to promote local industry. In this sense, this paper will be focus in the creation of the Metallurgy Department (1955), the Technical Assistance Service to Industry (1962), the National Industry Group (1965) and the creation of an Industrial Architect, ENACE SA (1980).

Social Network Analysis: Not merely a visualisation tool? Insights from the study of business networks and groups in Biscay, 1879-1913

Igor Etxabe, Jesús M. Valdaliso — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper introduces a scientific meta-experiment that aims to explore, by means of Social Network Analysis (SNA), a database previously worked with a traditional qualitative analysis (Valdaliso, 1988 and 1993). The sample is made up of more than 500 incorporated companies registered in Vizcaya between 1879 and 1913, which represent 30 per cent of the number and more than 90 per cent of the total capital of the companies created in that province between those dates. Although the use of SNA does not show substantially different results in the representation of the main business groups, it does provide numerous and very notable advantages, especially related to a better visualisation of the networks. However, the new methodology also poses some problems, especially when interpreting large networks. Moreover, beyond graphical and statistical techniques, qualitative information is essential for a correct understanding of the networks.

The Aircraft Manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), 1939-1972: Resilience and adaptation to Spain’s defense policy and international Relations

Iñaki Etxaniz Tesouro — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article aims to explain the resilience of the aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) after the Spanish Civil War and how the company adapted to the autarky policy and interventionism of the early Franco regime and, subsequently, to Spain’s economic, technological, and military dependence on the United States. It argues that CASA’s adaptation strategy had the effect of reducing the company’s capacity and expertise, thus conditioning its development starting in the mid-1960s. In order to do so, it retraces the company’s evolution and specialization from the 1940s until its late incorporation into European projects, around 1970, and discusses the political and institutional factors that explain this trajectory.

Firms’ takeover in war times: The incorporation of the Tenerife Island Telephone Network to CTNE in 1938

Rafael Pérez Jiménez, Francisco Quintana Navarro — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper studies the causes, conditions, and consequences of the process of absorption of the insular telephone network of the Cabildo de Tenerife (RTIT by its Spanish acronym) by the National Telephone Company of Spain (CTNE) in 1938. This process, which was presented as a friendly purchase beneficial to both parties, was actually strongly influenced by the special circumstances of the Civil War. The conditions that contributed to this decision are analysed, such as the financial situation of the Cabildo, the disciplinary processes suffered by the personnel considered disaffected by the military regime, or the situation of the company's management. The efforts made by CTNE to incorporate this network are also analyzed, as well as its consequences for both entities, particularly for the insular institution, which suffered a significant decrease in its revenues.

CATALAN VIDAL, Jordi, ed. 2023. Crises and Transformation in the Mediterranean World. Lessons from Catalonia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 490 pp.

Albert Carreras — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Catalan Vidal, Jordi, ed. 2023. Crises and Transformation in the Mediterranean World. Lessons from Catalonia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 490 pp.

HODGSON, Geoffrey M. 2023. The Wealth of a Nation. Institutional Foundations of English Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 283 pp.

Javier San Julián Arrupe — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hodgson, Geoffrey M. 2023. The Wealth of a Nation. Institutional Foundations of English Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 283 pp.

LARRINAGA, Carlos and Donatella STRANGIO, eds. 2023. The Development of the Hotel and Tourism Industry in the Twentieth Century. Comparative Perspectives from Western Europe, 1900-1970. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 222 pp.

Elvira Lindoso Tato — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Larrinaga, Carlos and Donatella Strangio, eds. 2023. The Development of the Hotel and Tourism Industry in the Twentieth Century. Comparative Perspectives from Western Europe, 1900-1970. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 222 pp.

PÉREZ CALLE, Begoña. 2023. Flora Tristán. Pensamiento económico y comunicación social en tiempos del Romanticismo. Madrid: Dykinson, 181 pp.

José M. Menudo — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Pérez Calle, Begoña. 2023. Flora Tristán. Pensamiento económico y comunicación social en tiempos del Romanticismo. Madrid: Dykinson, 181 pp.

MATÉS-BARCO, Juan Manuel, and María VÁZQUEZ-FARIÑAS, eds. 2024. Ecological Crisis and Water Supply. The Case of Andalusia in the Hydrological Context. Boston: Brill, 251 pp.

Juan Hernández Andreu — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Matés-Barco, Juan Manuel, and María Vázquez-Fariñas, eds. 2024. Ecological Crisis and Water Supply. The Case of Andalusia in the Hydrological Context. Boston: Brill, 251 pp.