In 1940, the Portuguese government approved a massive primary school construction plan that projected a 60 per cent increase in the number of primary schools. Based on the collection of a new dataset, we describe literacy levels in Portugal prior to the plan as well as the plan's strategy regarding the location of schools. We then estimate the causal impact of the increase in the number of schools between 1940 and the early 60s on enrolment and literacy, all at the county level. We conclude the increase in the number of schools was responsible for 80 per cent of the increase in enrolment and 13 per cent of the increase in the literacy rate of the affected cohorts.

The literature on internationalisation processes in family businesses has boomed with the emergence of new approaches and different perspectives. One of these schemes analyses the so-called born-again global firms, mostly technology companies, which experienced an internationalisation process after one or more serious incidents affecting it. The case of Ines Rosales extends the frontier of the meaning of a global born-again firm to firms in industries and traditional products. One of its most striking aspects is that the flagship product is centennial and based on basic ingredients. In addition, the production process of the firm mix production by hand and mechanised developments. Inés Rosales shows the ability of a family Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in a process of internationalisation even in culturally distant markets through the traditional cake of olive oil.

In 2010 Spain ranked second among EU-15 countries in the manufacture of passenger cars; however, in 1950 the country’s car production had been purely symbolic. Taking as its starting point the trajectories of the enterprises that have shaped the auto industry in Spain, this study explores the sector’s process of development within the interpretative framework proposed by Alfred D. Chandler in Scale and Scope. Until the mid-1970s, SEAT and FASA-Renault, the sector’s first-movers, maintained their position as industry leaders. The entry of Ford and GM in the 1970s was to restructure the industry as it shifted its focus towards exportation to the European Economic Community. Both market share and net profits are used as indicators of the evolution of each car maker.

A major objective of the government during the Great Recession has been severely to restrict public sector real wage growth. One potential advantage of performance-related pay schemes is that they naturally offer greater wage responsiveness to fluctuations in the business cycle. Based on evidence from engineering and allied industries during the Great Depression we show that piecework wages exhibited more flexibility than their timework equivalents. We compare and contrast southern/midland engineering districts of Britain with northern districts. The former region was dominated by piece-rated workers and by modern sections of the industry, such as vehicle and aircraft manufacture. Time-rated work predominated in northern districts where older sections – for example, marine and textile engineering – were clustered‥

This paper analyses the role played by the National Commission for Industrial Productivity (CNPI) in the development of the Spanish footwear industry. First the nature of the Commission is reviewed highlighting its links with the «americanisation» campaign that took place in post-war Europe. Then, it is shown that footwear was one of the priority sectors for the CNPI, and the main initiatives developed by the organism in this industry in the years prior to the take off of exports are expounded. In third place, it is shown that the sector had already undergone a profound «americanisation» in Spain and in Europe in general during the first third of the 20th century. Lastly, the paper attempts to assess the effective repercussion of the CNPI's actions.

This article presents three new annual indices of industrial output for Andalusia, Catalonia and the Basque Country between 1830 and 1975. The comparative analysis, the first to include the Basque Country, allows to specify the main tendencies of growth and structural change in the regions studied, two of them pioneers of the Spanish industrialization, Andalusia clearly left behind. The analysis highlights as well the changes operated in the composition of their respective industrial products and, with them, the different regional paths, going from specialization to the manufacturing diversification, followed during the 19th and 20th centuries.