Academic literature on the topic 'Aragon (Spain) – Economic conditions – 18th century'

Defence date: 28 September 2022
Examining Board: Prof. Pieter Judson (European University Institute); Prof. Tamar Herzog (Harvard University); Prof. Christopher Storrs (University of Dundee); Prof. Regina Grafe (European University Institute)
Why and how did modern states emerge in Southwestern Europe? These are the main questions that this thesis answers by examining the debt of six municipalities of the Crown of Aragon during the 18th century through a multiscale, transversal, and comparative approach. The ancient practices which constituted the Aragonese polity appeared in the mid-fourteenth century and survived at least until the mid-eighteenth century partially thanks to the debt of the municipalities. Towns and kingdoms were in many cases ruled by assemblies of creditors by virtue of debt restructuring agreements. Debt accounts for the long survival of the Aragonese polity, but also for its sclerosis. The financial situation of the debtholders, mostly ecclesiastical institutions, prevented rulers from defaulting on municipal debt and adopting drastic measures against the Church, as they feared a financial meltdown. The emergence of the modern state was an intricate process which started by 1750, mainly due to the collapse of the ancient mechanisms. The modern state appeared as a set of practices devised and implemented by a myriad of actors who tried to recompose social and political life. State formation was first and foremost a local process in which municipal debt proved crucial too. The examination of local dynamics reveals that modern states in Southwestern Europe followed similar paths during the early phases of their formation.

Defence date: 13 January 2016
Examining Board: Professor Jorge Flores, European University Institute; Professor Regina Grafe, European University Institute; Professor Leonor Freire Costa, ISEG; Professor Joseph Fradera, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
The dissertation focuses on the political economy of the Portuguese and Spanish empires during the Age of Revolutions, tracing the rise of Rio de Janeiro and Havana as global cities. It examines the political economy of the emergence of two global ports in the LusoHispanic Atlantic and appraises institutional dynamics instead of merely exploring the nature of institutions. This work contributes to the field of global history by offering an Atlantic history in global perspective. It proposes a Hemispherical Atlantic and simultaneously discloses its connections with the Indian Ocean. As a substitute of a local/global dichotomy, the dissertation resorts to the use of three different dimensions (markets, institutions and agents), which do not necessarily follow a path from global to local. The first part analyses the cities’ integration into imperial and global markets as well as their participation into much larger global commodity chains. It considers not only markets’ trends but also the emergence of translocal markets. The financing of Slave trade in the South Atlantic and flour trades in the North Atlantic are thoroughly researched. The second section emphasises on institutions and their impact on agent’s behaviour. It mainly refers to formal institutions as well as their dynamics. It fundamentally focuses on institutions governing exchange: customs houses, taxes and corporations, and carefully integrates emulation in the design, creation and evolution of formal institutions. Finally, the third section explores networks, agency relations and privateorder institutions. Besides trust and reputation, merchants’ status was crucial in the configuration and evolution of networks. Credit, multidirectional capital flows, and the consignment system are studied through the meticulous examination of merchants businesses in Africa, New England and the Peninsula, offering new insights on Asian textiles in the Caribbean markets and the slave traffic in Brazil. This thesis investigates the complexities of governance that took place in the Iberian empires, and revises images of absolutist power, centralization or negotiation. It argues that the empire’s organization was highly hierarchical (which differs from centralization) and claims that such a rigid hierarchical organization prevented to some extend institutional change and innovation. In so doing, it underlines the need for an intermediate approach between “black legend” absolutist versions and revisionist “pink histories” of the Iberian empires.