This article analyses the structure and changes of large companies based on a new database of the 200 largest non-financial firms operating from 1913 to 1971 in Argentina. The main contribution of the research consists of the elaboration of the rankings of the 200 largest companies according to their paid-up capital between 1913 and 1971 and the construction of a database of large companies based on homogeneous sources and criteria. The study identifies the long-lasting presence of family-based diversified business groups and foreign multinationals from the first global period to the end of Import Substitution Industrialisation. It also shows that the presence of foreign companies among the 200 largest firms is higher than that identified in other countries. The study constitutes the first comprehensive research into big business in Argentina until the 1970s and a first attempt to identify the life cycles of the largest companies in Argentina.

How are expropriations related to governments' debt defaults? The literature has shown that expropriation episodes and debt defaults have rarely coincided, suggesting that each event resulted from a different set of factors. The aim of this article is twofold. First, I analyse default–expropriation relationships in the years previous to the debt crisis of 1982. I show that while default and expropriation episodes did not always coincide, countries that expropriated at least once during the period were also those that defaulted more often. I observe that countries that expropriated had worse macroeconomic indicators than countries that did not. Second, I focus on the case of Mexico, when its announcement of a debt moratorium in August 1982 was followed, less than one month later, by the nationalisation of its banking system. Both events were outcomes of an acute economic crisis. The nationalisation announcement aggravated the crisis because an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seemed increasingly uncertain. I provide evidence from the largely overlooked bond market (on which the government never defaulted) that shows that investors reacted negatively to the bank nationalisation. Finally, I present original, published and unpublished primary sources to demonstrate that commercial banks, as well as international organisations, expressed misgivings about the banks' nationalisation. This fact may have hindered the country's economic recovery through the deterioration of public confidence and a decline in foreign investment.

This paper presents a unique database that explores how industrialisation affected municipalities' incomes, expenditures and education spending. Using the importance of the mines and steelworks in Biscay in northern Spain between 1860 and 1910 as indicators of industrialisation, the findings show that there was a positive relationship between these dimensions and towns' incomes, which was indirectly transmitted to municipalities' expenditures, showing that municipalities were able to benefit from industrialisation. However, the thriving mining and metallurgy sectors did not support an increase in education spending. The lack of short-term results from spending on education may have led town councils to divert the revenues of industrialisation into more urgent areas, or those that could deliver faster results.

This article questions the drivers behind the distribution of savings in different capital markets in Portugal between 1550 and 1800. A novel dataset of credit transactions, interest rates and debt service documents a shift in the lenders' investment behaviour. By 1712, one of the leading institutional creditors—the Misericórdias—had ceased to allocate funds to the sovereign debt market. Data reveal that this disinvestment was neither related to the poor performance of debt service nor to the lure of potentially higher returns on private credit. We argue that changes in the rationales for issuing debt justify the drop in the number of institutional investors in the public credit market, and this correlates with the heavy allocation of funds into private lending.

El trabajo analiza la innovación en la industria militar en España entre 1878 y 1939 a partir de las patentes y los contratos de defensa. El alto porcentaje de contratos de productos patentados (63%) es indicio de una notable relación entre patentes y contratos. Esto se ve confirmado por la coincidencia en el orden de los principales países en ambas variables. El test econométrico confirma la estadística descriptiva y, además, evidencia que las patentes a priori más valiosas (de invención, puestas en práctica, más longevas y empresariales) tienen una correlación más fuerte con los contratos. Desde la óptica sectorial también se observa una correlación positiva y significativa, aunque menos intensa que desde el espacial. El análisis micro confirma la estrecha relación de las patentes con la actividad del sector de armamento militar, explicita los protagonistas y las vías de esa relación (importación, producción local y licencias) y explica las disparidades observadas en el análisis agregado.

GIS data on the evolution of railway networks facilitate the study of the role played by the expansion of transport infrastructure since the industrial revolution. The arrival of the railway transformed economic and social activity and the distribution of population within the territory. Given their importance, we have reconstructed and digitised the layout of the railway lines and the location of the stations and halts that existed from the opening of Spain's first railway line, in 1848, until 2023. We have also added indicators of the quality of the network, more specifically, the dates of its electrification and when the track was doubled to allow two-way traffic. The potential of this database lies in its capacity to analyse the interrelationship between the railway infrastructure and a wide range of elements located in the territory, amongst which it is necessary to highlight other modes of transport, urban expansion and socio-economic development.