During the Modern Age, the availability of food was, to a large extent, a determining factor in the standard of living of the population. One of the great economic efforts for most families was the acquisition of the food necessary for survival, with cereals, especially wheat, and bread, accounting for between 65 and 70% of current expenditure. Because of its importance, the demand for wheat tended to be inelastic. Consequently, changes in its price marked the rise and fall of living standards. At the regional level, the behaviour of the price of wheat showed divergences depending on whether one lived in the centre or on the coast of the peninsula. While the price fluctuation was greater in the Meseta, the coastal areas, with their international trade routes, showed less variation. Thus, throughout the modern period, Barcelona and Valencia had lower prices than in Castilla la Nueva, Segovia or León. Periods of crisis were also important. In Castilla la Nueva, price volatility conditioned the market every 9.8 years; in Andalusia every 10.6 years; in Segovia every 14.1 years; in Navarre every 36.8 years; in Valencia every 38.4 years and in Barcelona every 69 years. Climatic disturbances also affected markets with less international trade capacity. However, from the beginning of the 16th century until the end of the 18th century, the common price tended to fall in parallel with the process of integration of the peninsular markets, a process which, although timid during the first two centuries of modernity, increased with the actions of the Enlightenment reformers.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVI, XVII, XVIII
Scope: Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Reher, D. S. (2001). "Producción, precios e integración de los mercados regionales de grano en la España preindustrial", en Revista de Historia Económica, XIX, nº 3, p. 550.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2001
Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)
Copyright: ©Revista de Historia Económica ©David S. Reher
Abstract: Evolution of the behaviour of the price of wheat in the regional markets of Spain during the Modern Age that affected the standard of living of families
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AndalucíaBarcelonaCastilla la NuevaComercio internacionalHistoria EconómicaLeónMercadonavarraNivel de vidaPreciosRegiones españolasSegoviaSiglo XVISiglo XVIISiglo XVIIITrigoValencia
