La formación de los precios del trigo en España (1820-1869): el mercado interior

Abstract

We describe the Spanish wheat trade policy and its possible effects on the relationship between the price levels in the inner and coastal areas. Furthermore, we analyse the cyclical fluctuations of wheat prices and how they could have been affected by trade policy. Finally, we show, through the analysis of various moments with low or zero levels of protectionism, that the hypothesis of the minimum effects of the ban on importing wheat on land use is quite reasonable. In general, the analysis of the influence of the wheat trade policy carried out in this second part leads us to substantially reduce its influence on the evolution of Spanish agriculture and the economy, but the social cost of the long period when the ban was in force is also clear, particularly in the interior.