This article addresses the relations between Spanish America and the East during the early colonial period. These relations, of a remarkable intensity that does not seem to have been surpassed until the eighteenth century, were driven from the West Indies through flexible, private-led navigation, challenging the peninsular legislation on maritime exchange, which was regulated for New Spain and prohibited for the rest of the West Indies. The conflict is analyzed through reports, correspondence, and the body of legislation which circulated during that time. Subsequently, the article explains how this private maritime revolution of sorts gave rise to the circulation and projection of a basket of goods and precious metals between Southeast Asia, China, the Philippines, and the West Indies. Finally, the article reveals how the Spanish American transpacific (re) orientation was denounced by peninsular institutions and their representatives, who warned of a rupture in the transatlantic relationship of dependence.
This paper analyses why the project to establish a state education system in Bolivia failed to consolidate a functional education system during the 19th century, despite the early adoption of regulatory frameworks. From an institutional economic history perspective, it examines the extent to which the fiscal and administrative weakness of the state, the ambiguity in the distribution of powers between administrations, organisational instability and the structural shortage of teachers, among other factors, limited the sustained provision of public education. It also assesses whether the centralised or decentralised model was a determining factor in explaining the limited educational success. The analysis is based on legislation and educational and administrative sources and contributes to the debate on the provision of public services in contexts of institutional weakness.
We construct one of the longest continuous rent series for the pre-modern world, tracing Toledo's housing market from 1489 to 1810. Using the Cathedral's portfolio, we merge a hedonic microdataset (1489-1650) with a decadal census of leases (1650-1810), yielding over 34,000 transactions and coverage of up to 35% of dwellings in the city per sampled year. Privileged groups drove a bubble-like surge in rents during the sixteenth-century silver boom, while the working poor saw only modest increases. After 1600, the premiums once paid by artisans and shopkeepers over unskilled laborers steadily disappeared, marking the erosion of Toledo's middle class. These findings underscore the role of housing markets in both reflecting and reinforcing inequality in early modern Spain. Elaboramos una de las series continuas de alquileres m & aacute;s extensas para el mundo premoderno, rastreando la evoluci & oacute;n del mercado de la vivienda en Toledo entre 1489 y 1810. A partir de la documentaci & oacute;n patrimonial de la Catedral, combinamos un conjunto de microdatos hed & oacute;nicos (1489-1650) con un registro decenal de contratos de arrendamiento (1650-1810), lo que arroja un total de m & aacute;s de 34.000 transacciones y una cobertura de hasta el 35 % de las viviendas de la ciudad en los a & ntilde;os muestreados. Los grupos privilegiados impulsaron un fuerte incremento de los alquileres-similar a una burbuja-durante el auge de la plata del siglo XVI, mientras que las clases trabajadoras m & aacute;s pobres experimentaron subidas apenas moderadas. A partir de 1600, los sobreprecios que artesanos y tenderos pagaban frente a los trabajadores no cualificados fueron desapareciendo gradualmente, lo que marc & oacute; el declive de la clase media toledana. Estos hallazgos ponen de relieve el papel de los mercados de la vivienda tanto en el reflejo como en el refuerzo de la desigualdad en la Espa & ntilde;a de la Edad Moderna.
Abstract This paper develops a unified framework combining corrected National Accounts, dynamic social tables, and capital-income allocation to reconstruct long-run inequality, allowing the calculation of overall inequality, labor inequality, and extended-income inequality. The evidence indicates a decline in overall inequality alongside a contrasting rise in labor inequality from the late 1950s to 1970. However, oil-price shocks after 1973 had distributionally asymmetric and non-linear effects on overall inequality, whereas labor inequality exhibits a sign-dependent response. Furthermore, in-kind transfers in education and health substantially lowered overall inequality. Nevertheless, oil wealth did not function as a sustained equalizing force; post-1970s rent volatility, institutional weaknesses, and labor-market fragmentation reinforced a distributional regime in which gains concentrated at the top during booms while losses were widely shared during slumps. The Venezuelan case illustrates how reliance on publicly owned natural resources, absent strong institutions and policies, can evolve into a persistent growth and distributional failure.
This study explores how late medieval merchants used visual symbols-merchant marks-to construct reputation, trust, and prestige within Mediterranean trade networks (1387-1435). Based on 738 marks recorded by the Pisan notary Giuliano Scarsi (Archivio di Stato di Firenze), it analyses their communicative and economic functions in Italy and the Crown of Aragon. More than mere identifiers, these emblems signaled credibility, authenticated exchanges, and reduced information asymmetries. Influenced by heraldry, they merged professional and familial identities. Through a semiotic and economic-historical approach, the paper shows how such marks generated symbolic capital and institutional trust, anticipating modern corporate visual identity and illuminating how merchants made their enterprise visible and reliable in the late medieval Mediterranean economy. Este estudio explora c & oacute;mo los comerciantes de la Baja Edad Media utilizaron s & iacute;mbolos visuales-marcas mercantiles-para construir reputaci & oacute;n, confianza y prestigio dentro de las redes comerciales mediterr & aacute;neas (1387-1435). A partir de 738 marcas registradas por el notario pisano Giuliano Scarsi (Archivio di Stato di Firenze), analiza sus funciones comunicativas y econ & oacute;micas en Italia y la Corona de Arag & oacute;n. M & aacute;s que simples identificadores, estos emblemas se & ntilde;alaban credibilidad, autenticaban intercambios y reduc & iacute;an las asimetr & iacute;as de informaci & oacute;n. Influenciados por la her & aacute;ldica, fusionaban identidades profesionales y familiares. Mediante un enfoque semi & oacute;tico e hist & oacute;rico-econ & oacute;mico, el art & iacute;culo muestra c & oacute;mo dichas marcas generaron capital simb & oacute;lico y confianza institucional, anticipando la identidad visual corporativa moderna e ilustrando c & oacute;mo los comerciantes hicieron visible y fiable su empresa en la econom & iacute;a mediterr & aacute;nea de la Baja Edad Media.
