Suchergebnisse

Firms dealing with "Made in Spain" fashion products (e.g., textiles, apparel, and footwear) have increased their presence in the world market over the last two decades. This paper focuses on the origins of this process. After constructing a new database of export districts, it first investigates the sources of the international competitiveness of these districts. Second, it explores whether industrial districts boosted the internationalization of Spanish fashion firms. The paper concludes that most of today's outstanding Spanish firms in fashion-related international markets emerged from 1980s' districts, which could have benefited from classical Marshallian externalities, while also taking advantage of the organizational capabilities of leading firms.

AbstractThis paper aims to establish whether there was a gap in biological living standards between urban and rural areas in late nineteenth-century Catalonia, and if so, to determine its extent. The study makes use of a large new dataset based on military records for the cohort of males born in the year 1890 and enlisted in the year 1911. By combining individual heights with information at municipal level, we conclude that the 1890 cohort of conscripts living in rural areas were shorter than those that resided in towns and cities with populations of more than 20,000 people. We also hypothesise about the reasons why urban dwellers in late nineteenth-century Catalonia were taller than their rural counterparts by considering the potential role of rural–urban migration, improvements in public sanitation and health care, and progresses in the quantity and quality of food availability for urban dwellers.

This paper aims to establish whether there was a gap in biological living standards between rural and urban areas in late nineteenth-century Catalonia, and if so, to determine its extent. The study makes use of a large new dataset based on military records for the cohort of males born in the year 1890 and enlisted in the year 1911. By combining individual heights with information at municipal level, we conclude that the 1890 cohort of conscripts living in rural areas were shorter than those that resided in towns and cities with populations of more than 20,000 people. We also hypothesize about the reasons why urban dwellers in late nineteenth-century Catalonia were taller than their rural counterparts. ; Este trabajo tiene como objetivo determinar si existía, y en qué medida, una brecha en los niveles de vida biológicos entre las zonas rurales y urbanas de la Cataluña de finales del siglo XIX. El estudio utiliza una nueva y extensa base de datos obtenida de registros militares para la cohorte de hombres nacidos en el año 1890 y alistados en el año 1911. A partir de la combinación de datos individuales con información a nivel municipal, llegamos a la conclusión de que en la cohorte de nacidos en 1890 la estatura de los reclutas que vivían en las áreas rurales era menor que la de los que residían en poblaciones de más de 20.000 personas. Asimismo, formulamos algunas hipótesis sobre las razones por las que los habitantes de la Cataluña urbana eran más altos que sus homólogos rurales.

Objective: to assess the long-term evolution of biological living standards in rural Catalonia and to compare it with the corresponding figures in urban areas. Methods: using data from military records of conscripts from six towns in western Catalonia, we construct an annual height series. Height is standardised at the age of 21 years. We also construct a body mass index (BMI) for conscripts born in 1891 and 1934-39. The annual height series for western Catalonia is systematically compared to the series for Reus, Catalonia's second largest city during the second half of the 19th century. Results: comparing the cohorts born in the periods 1840-49 and 1951-60, we find that height increased by 5.7 centimetres over this period. However, the increase was not distributed equally over time. In the second half of the 19th century, rural heights stagnated over the long run and declined relative to urban heights. In the cohorts born in the decades between 1910 and 1950, rural heights rose by more than 5 centimetres, and converged with those of Reus. Conclusion: we provide new evidence for the current debate on the rural-urban height gap. Between the 1840s and the 1950s, heights in rural western Catalonia grew at rates similar to those recorded in certain urban areas, but growth rates differed depending on the period of analysis. This study underlines the importance of adopting long-term perspectives, and stresses that rural-urban height differences tend to be time-and space-specific.

By using military records and population censuses this article investigates the relationship between sibship size and the biological living standards of young males, as measured by height. Focusing on a medium-sized industrial town in Catalonia the analysis shows that the impact of sibship size on child outcomes, as hypothesised by the resource dilution explanation, was rather weak during the years of the first fertility transition. Sibship size affected the height of young males only in certain socioeconomic groups and in specific periods of time, and not always in the expected direction. The article also explores the potential role of confounding factors in the link between sibship size and height, as well as the complexity of this relationship.