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2021 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

5. Speculation and Collusion in the North of Castile. 1820–1880

verfasst von : Rafael Barquín

Erschienen in: Companies and Entrepreneurs in the History of Spain

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter studies the possible existence of speculation and collusive practices in the production and commercialization of wheat and flour in the North of Castilla in the mid-nineteenth century. These goods were exported from Santander to Catalonia, Europe and Cuba. Part of the rise in food prices during the agricultural crises was attributed to these practices, mainly in the 1856/1857 crisis. The chapter argues that speculation could not have had harmful effects, but perhaps the opposite. It is also argued that market cartelization was not possible. Instead, the trade policy could have harmed consumers.

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A larger version in Barquín (2019).

Barquín 2001, pp. 123–124. Spanish wheat prices at www.iisg.nl/hpw/data.php#spain, and from my homesite www.uned.es/cee/rbarquin.

A general description of this set of activities can be found in Hoyo (1993, 1999), Moreno (1995, 1996, 2002, 2006), and Barquín (1999, 2011, 2019).

On the meaning of the words especular and especulación, see Barquín 1999, p. 299.

Estimating these costs is not easy. As for the first, the Spanish public granaries (pósitos) set the annual interest of loans, called creces, at 8% per year. However, it should be noted that these were loans intended for charity purposes; and that, not by chance, the granary were ruinous companies (Anes 1969, pp. 76–94). For medieval England, McCloskey and Nash (1984) estimate the annual storage costs at 30% of the initial investment, which could be an upper limit in Spain, where the climate is not as rainy.

There is a way to store wheat without storing it physically: buying the crop in advance. This was a common practice among flour manufacturers for two reasons: first, it brought benefits as a credit operation, and second, it ensured the supply of raw material for the business (Moreno 2002, pp. 176–177). However, purchase aimed at speculation is still a risky operation. The wholesaler cannot know in advance how much the harvest will be worth when it is delivered. It may be that the value of the wheat that liquidates the loan is even less than what was borrowed.

The national figures of exits and exports of wheat and flour from 1849 onwards in Grupo de Estudios de Historia Rural (1985, pp. 356–357), and La crisis agrícola y pecuaria 1887–89, volume VI, p. 156.

Which caused the brokerage revenues on the route to fall compared to the previous period. See Barquín (2011, pp. 272–276).

The word acaparar (hoarding) with a pejorative connotation appears for the first time in the Domínguez Dictionary from 1853, defined as “to seize or acquire anything that can produce some utility by selling it with profit”.

Here it can be seen how the issue of speculation mixes with the issue of hoarding. Millers need to store wheat to work, but in doing so, were they speculating? This question was answered with the Law of Promotion of Industry and Commerce from May 8, 1822, which tacitly allowed hoarding and speculation. The Commerce Code of 1829 and the Real Decreto de Libertad de Comercio of January 20, 1834, again sanctioned freedom. Finally, the Real Decreto of November 19, 1835, established the “the power to build flour mills freely”, another fundamental milestone in the fight against obscurantism (Maluquer 1983, pp. 85–86).

Ratier 1848, pp. 120–124. Quoted by Moreno (2018, p. 14). Similar figures in Sierra (1845, pp. 94–98).

See my website, www.uned.es/cee/rbarquin.

According to Hoyo (1999, p. 278), the Santander cartel of merchants would have maintained the cohesion through “careful marriage strategies”. Moreno (1991, p. 187; 1995, p. 245; 2006, p. 317) also points out the importance of these ties in the flour companies of Palencia, but he believes that such a structure was a “burden” since it was “marked by schisms and family tensions”. Interestingly, the vast majority of these companies were created in the 1830s and 1840s, and they started to go into decline within 30 or 40 years. Therefore, there would have been little more than one generation to consolidate the family relationships, and all in a very competitive environment with an evident excess of productive capacity.

Quintal was a unit of weight equivalent to 46 kilograms. For real and fanega supra.

In fact, the 1820 legislation was not original either. It was only the update of the Pragmatic Sanction of July 11, 1765, in which a much lower level was set, 22 Spanish reales/fanega, and therefore useless given the price levels in the following decades.

Anes, Gonzalo. 1969. Economía e Ilustración en la España del siglo XVIII. Barcelona: Ariel.

Barquín, Rafael. 1999. El comercio de la harina entre Castilla y Santander y la crisis de subsistencia de 1856/57. In Consumo, condiciones de vida y comercialización, ed. Bartolomé Yun and Jaume Torras, 293–309. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.

———. 2001. Precios de trigo e índices de consumo en España. 1765–1883. Burgos: University of Burgos.

———. 2003. El comercio exterior de trigo y harina y las crisis de subsistencias en España. TST: Transportes, Servicios y telecomunicaciones 5: 127–148.

———. 2011. El comercio de harina entre Castilla, Santander, Barcelona y Cuba: ¿Cártel o libre comercio? Revista de Historia de la Economía y la Empresa 5: 265–288.

———. 2019. Teoría, mito y realidad del acopio y la especulación. El comercio de trigo y harina en el norte de Castilla. In Empresas y empresarios en España. De mercaderes a industriales, coordinated by Juan Manuel Matés-Barco, 99–117. Madrid: Pirámide.

GEHR (Grupo de Estudios de Historia Rural). 1985. Los precios del trigo y la cebada en España 1874–1906. In Historia agraria de la España Contemporánea. Tome II, ed. Ramón Garrabou and Jesús Sanz, 321–368. Barcelona: Crítica.

Hoyo, Andrés. 1993. Todo mudó de repente. Santander: University of Cantabria.

———. 1999. Gestión comercial, precios y crisis de subsistencias en Castilla, 1820–1874. In Consumo, condiciones de vida y comercialización, ed. Bartolomé Yun and Jaume Torras, 275–292. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.

La Crisis Agrícola y Pecuaria, 1887–89. Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra.

López Morales, Blas. 1856. La cuestión de subsistencias. Valladolid.

Maluquer, Jordi. 1983. La despatrimonialización del agua: movilización de un recurso natural fundamental. Revista de Historia Económica I (2): 79–96.

McCloskey, Donald N., and John Nash. 1984. Corn at Interest: The Extent and Cost of Grain Storage in Medieval England. American Economic Review 74 (1): 174–192.

Montañés, Enrique. 2009. Grupos de presión y reformas arancelarias en el régimen liberal, 1820–1870. Cádiz: University of Cádiz.

Moreno, Javier. 1991. La fiebre harinera castellana. La historia de un sueño industrial (1841–1864). In Estudios sobre capitalismo agrario, crédito e industria en Castilla (siglos XIX y XX), coordinated by Bartolomé Yun, 161–202. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.

———. 1995. Protección arancelaria, distorsiones de mercado y beneficios extraordinarios: La producción de harinas en Castilla la Vieja. 1820–1841. Revista de Historia Económica XIII (2): 227–250.

———. 1996. Empresas y empresarios castellanos en el negocio de la harina, 1778–1913. In La empresa en la Historia de España, ed. Francisco Comín and Pablo Martín Aceña, 187–202. Madrid: Civitas.

———. 2002. La harinería castellana y el capitalismo agrario en el tránsito a la industrialización. Historia Agraria 27: 165–189.

———. 2006. Factor empresarial y atraso económico en Castilla y León (siglos XIX y XX). In Historia Empresarial de España. Un enfoque regional en profundidad, directed by José Luis García and Carles Manera, 315–336. Madrid: LID.

———. 2018. Los harinócratas. Organizaciones, mercado e inquietudes inversoras de los empresarios de Castilla la Vieja y León, 1820–1868. Investigaciones de Historia Económica 14: 11–22.CrossRef

Ratier, Luis. 1848. Anuario Estadístico de la Administración y el Comercio de la Provincia de Santander. Valladolid.

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Titel: Speculation and Collusion in the North of Castile. 1820–1880
verfasst von: Rafael Barquín
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Companies and Entrepreneurs in the History of Spain
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-61317-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-61318-1

Copyright-Jahr: 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61318-1_5