Between specialization and globalization. The marketing of agrarian products and its environmental impacts seen from a historical perspective: the province of Barcelona in the mid-nineteenth century

Ecological economics has five good reasons to consider that economic globalisation, spurred by commercial and financial fluxes, to be one of the main driving forces responsible for causing environmental degradation to our planet. The first, is the energy consumption and the socio-environmental impacts which long-distance haulage entails. The second, is the ever-increasing flow of goods to far-away destinations which renders their recycling practically impossible. This is particularly significant, because it prevents the metabolic lock of the nutrients present in food and other agrarian products from taking place. The third, is that the high degree of specialization attained in agriculture, forestry, cattle, mining and industry in each region, generates deleterious effects not only on the eco-landscape structure of the uses of the soil, but on the capability to provide habitat and environmental functions to maintain biodiversity as well

Labour Market Formation Patterns in Nineteenth Century Catalonia

In this paper we portray the features of the Catalan textiles labour market in a period of technological change. Supply and demand for labour as well as a gendered view of living standards are presented. A first set of results is that labour supply adjusts to changes in labour demand trough the spread of new demographic attitudes. In this respect we imply that labour economic agents (or labour population) were able to modify the economic condition of their children. A second set of results refers to living standards and income distribution inequality. In this respect we see that unemployment and protectionism were the main sources breeding income inequality. A third set of results deals with the extreme labour market segmentation according to gender. Since women s real wages did not obey to an economic rationale we conclude that women were outside the labour market.

The impact of "early" nineteenth-century globalization on foreign trade in the Southern Cone: A study of British trade statistics

This paper deals with the impact of "early" nineteenth-century globalization (c.1815-1860) on foreign trade in the Southern Cone (SC). Most of the evidence is drawn from bilateral trades between Britain and the SC, at a time when Britain was the main commercial partner of the new republics. The main conclusion drawn is that early globalization had a positive impact on foreign trade in the SC, and this was due to: improvements in the SC's terms of trade during this period; the SC's per capita consumption of textiles (the main manufacture traded on world markets at that time) increased substantially during this period, at a time when clothing was one of the main items of SC household budgets; British merchants brought with them capital, shipping, insurance, and also facilitated the formation of vast global networks, which further promoted the SC's exports to a wider range of outlets.

An agency-oriented model to explain vine-growing specialization in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in the mid-nineteenth century

[cat] En aquest treball presentem un model per explicar el procés d’especialització vitícola assolit als municipis de la província de Barcelona, a mitjans del s. XIX,que cerca entendre com va sorgir històricament un avantatge comparatiu fruit d’un procés que esdevindria un dels punts de partida del procés d’industrialització a Catalunya. Els resultats confirmen els papers jugats pel impuls “Boserupià” de la població en un context d’intensificació de l’ús de la terra, i d’un impuls del mercat “Smithià” en un context d’expansió de la demanda per part de les economies atlàntiques. També es posa de manifest la importància de les dotacions agro-ecològiques i les condicions socioinstitucionals relacionades amb la desigualtat d’ingrés. La difusió de la vinya donà com a resultat unes comunitats rurals menys desiguals fins al 1820, tot i que aquesta desigualtat augmentà de nou a partir d'aleshores.

An agency-oriented model to explain vine-growing specialization in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) in the mid-nineteenth century

[cat] En aquest treball presentem un model per explicar el procés d’especialització vitícola assolit als municipis de la província de Barcelona, a mitjans del s. XIX,que cerca entendre com va sorgir històricament un avantatge comparatiu fruit d’un procés que esdevindria un dels punts de partida del procés d’industrialització a Catalunya. Els resultats confirmen els papers jugats pel impuls “Boserupià” de la població en un context d’intensificació de l’ús de la terra, i d’un impuls del mercat “Smithià” en un context d’expansió de la demanda per part de les economies atlàntiques. També es posa de manifest la importància de les dotacions agro-ecològiques i les condicions socioinstitucionals relacionades amb la desigualtat d’ingrés. La difusió de la vinya donà com a resultat unes comunitats rurals menys desiguals fins al 1820, tot i que aquesta desigualtat augmentà de nou a partir d'aleshores.

Díaz-Andreu, Margarita: A world history of nineteenth century archaeology. Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past.

M. Díaz-Andreu plantea un análisis de las implicaciones académicas, sociales y políticas de la arqueología (entendiendo como tal la investigación estricta, pero también el coleccionismo de obras de arte) entre finales del siglo XVIII y el inicio de la Primera Guerra Mundial, período durante el cual la formación y expansión de los imperios coloniales constituyó uno de los elementos clave en el discurso ideológico de los estados europeos. Su trabajo continúa la línea marcada por estudios suyos anteriores, esencialmente Nationalism and Archaeology in Europe (Díaz-Andreu & T. Champion [eds.], 1996) y Excavating Women. A History in European Archaeology (Díaz-Andreu & M. L. S. Sorensen, 1998), en los que combinaba el análisis historiográfico de diferentes aspectos y personajes clave de la arqueología europea desde la perspectiva de la organización de las redes sociales entre investigadores, con la reflexión sobre las implicaciones de la arqueología como ciencia en la definición y defensa de diferentes credos políticos, y el papel de la mujer en la investigación.

Centrality and investment strategies at the beginning of industrialisation in mid-nineteenth-century Catalonia

We apply social networks analysis to the study of an important database on investment and companies" share in the Catalonia (Spain) of the nineteenth century. In contrast with most of the existing related literature, usually addressing power relationships across administration boards, we focus on the structure of interactions among individual investors and firms. Centrality analysis uncovers interesting roles played by certain economic sectors (e.g. textile and financial). Furthermore, the diverse composition (in terms of economic activity) of communities in the network (subgroups more densely connected internally than with the rest of the network) reveals a high investment diversification, which nicely agrees with a known characteristic of traditional Catalan business strategies.

Development and Democratization

Current studies, mainly focused on the postwar period, are split on the impact of development on democracy. Examining panel data that runs from early nineteenth century (a time where hardly any democracy was in place) to the end of the twentieth century, I show income matters positively for democratization – both after controlling for country and time effects and instrumenting for income. Since the effect of time partly varies over time, with some historical periods that are more favorable to democracy than others, I investigate the domestic variables (a decreasing marginal effect of growth in already developed economies) and international factors (the strategies of great powers toward small countries) generating that result. I finally probe the underlying processes through which income shapes political institutions, showing that development produces key changes in the distribution and nature of wealth that, in turn, make democracy a stable political outcome.

Bottled natural mineral water in catalonia: origin and geographical evolution of its consumption and production

During the second half of the nineteenth century a major mineral water bottling industry appeared in Catalonia which vigorously lasted until the first third of the 20th century. The fact that the industry appeared in Catalonia and in other parts of Europe and the United States almost at the same time and had not existed before can be explained by a series of factors which coincided in time. This situation encouraged producers to pack, transport and sell bottled water from their respective sources. Among these factors there is the rise of hygienism, very influential in Catalonia, the declining water quality due to industrialization, the increase in population density, the improvement in transport, the emergence of thermal tourism or the invention of better containers used to store water. This project aims to explain thoroughly all the mentioned factors, and to give some light to why, when and how the Catalan bottled water industry appeared.

Tres experiències de maternitat a la Catalunya del segle XXI : anàlisi dels elements socials i culturals que influeixen en la vivència de la maternitat, en tres dones

Treball de recerca on analitzo els elements socials i culturals que influeixen en la vivència de la maternitat, en el cas de tres dones. Em proposo intentar copsar de quina forma tres dones que han estat mares al segle XXI experimenten la seva pròpia maternitat i així intentar dilucidar fins a quin punt aquestes tres dones viuen aquesta situació personal present, en clau de passat. Quan escric passat, em refereixo al segle XIX, quan es va institucionalitzar el concepte de l'ideal maternal.

Violència, religió i la ciutat: els significats de la política liberal dels anys vint i trenta del segle XIX

Estudi realitzat a partir d’una estada a l’Institut Desenvolupat a School of Comparative American Studies adscrit a la University of Warwick, Regne Unit, entre 2011 i 2012. Aquest projecte analitza en primer lloc la mobilització popular del primer liberalisme i la formació de les primeres organitzacions polítiques liberals que es constituïren a partir de les societats secretes i es propagaren a través dels principals centres de sociabilitat liberal: les societats patriòtiques. En segon lloc mitjançant l’estudi de la mobilitat dels liberals entre l’Espanya metropolitana i el virregnat de Nueva Espanya demostra com es dibuixà un nou model polític basat en el federalisme. El tercer aspecte d’anàlisi és com els exiliats catalans a Anglaterra reberen el suport de la Foreign Bible Society perquè havia mantingut contactes des dels primers anys vint amb l’alt clergat espanyol. El darrer aspecte de la recerca abasta l’estudi de l’espai urbà en relació amb les pràctiques polítiques dels ciutadans a partir de l’anàlisi de la formació i ampliació de les places de la ciutat de Barcelona durant la primera meitat del segle XIX.

Workers' perception of workplace bullying: a cross-cultural study

This study is one of the first studies to approach workplace bullying cross-culturally. It sought to compare employees' understanding of workplace bullying in two different world regions: Central America and Southern Europe, regarding three aspects of workplace bullying: psychological vs. physical harassment, hierarchical vs. horizontal bullying, and direct vs. indirect aggression. A convenience sample of 246 workers provided their own definition of workplace bullying through a single, open-ended question. The results showed that employees from Central America emphasized the physical component of workplace bullying more than the Southern European employees. However, similarities in the conceptualization of workplace bullying across both cultures were found as well. Both Southern European and Central American employees defined workplace bullying mainly as a hierarchical phenomenon, where the aggression took the form of direct strategies. Such differences and similarities bring to the field some positive inputs for the development and implementation of different strategies for dealing effectively with this phenomenon.

Workers' perception of workplace bullying: a cross-cultural study

This study is one of the first studies to approach workplace bullying cross-culturally. It sought to compare employees' understanding of workplace bullying in two different world regions: Central America and Southern Europe, regarding three aspects of workplace bullying: psychological vs. physical harassment, hierarchical vs. horizontal bullying, and direct vs. indirect aggression. A convenience sample of 246 workers provided their own definition of workplace bullying through a single, open-ended question. The results showed that employees from Central America emphasized the physical component of workplace bullying more than the Southern European employees. However, similarities in the conceptualization of workplace bullying across both cultures were found as well. Both Southern European and Central American employees defined workplace bullying mainly as a hierarchical phenomenon, where the aggression took the form of direct strategies. Such differences and similarities bring to the field some positive inputs for the development and implementation of different strategies for dealing effectively with this phenomenon.

Significats compartits : La festa popular, el llegat cultural d'un poble. El cas de la Festa Major a Sant Pere Pescador

Aquest treball analitza la festa popular a través de l'estudi de cas de la festa major de Sant Pere Pescador: es presenta una manifestació concreta de la cultura popular i tradicional a partir d'una pràctica quotidiana. Exposem allò que dóna significat a la festa major, quin paper hi juga a la creació d'identitat i com la gent se l'ha fet seva.

Europa als ulls dels Annales (1093-1933)

During this first third of this century, the continent of Europe witnessed far-reaching territorial transformations in the nineteenth century model. To some extent, the setting wich had inspired the epistemological structure of the French regional school was being replaced by one in which -at least to externa1 appearances- the relationship between the physical environment and human activities was much less evident. The adaptation of the theoretical and methodological context to the new Europe seems to take the form of a non-lineal evolution, for in the latter years of the period examined, evolutionary tendencies indicate a return to the more classical model. In this way, the growing interest which the publication had shown in Atlantic Europe and topics of a more economic nature, was truncated. The traditional settings --especially the Mediterranean- came to the fore again and interest in rural societies was renewed. Likewise, the monographic studies which had demonstrated distinct functional objectives in the midtwenties, recovered elements of ecological explanation, and the search for the relationship between environment and society