The classical gold standard and the mediterranean peripherythe spanish case (1870-1913)

Abstract

This PhD analyses the causes and consequences of Spain’s non adoption of the gold standard. Chapter 1 is a state of the art about the costs and benefits of the gold standard in Spain. Chapter 2 is about causes by carrying out a debt sustainability analysis. Chapter 3 is about consequences and explains how the non-adoption of the gold standard could affect Spanish economy. Chapter 4 is a counterfactual analysis and studies how the economic growth would have been under a fixed exchange rate regime. The adoption of the gold standard would have been a mistake before 1903. Moreover, the adoption of the system after that moment would have been only possible by renouncing to historical parity and adopting the system with a devaluated parity.