Índices de precios de tres ciudades españolas, 1680-1800: Palencia, Madrid y Sevilla

Abstract

In this article we present and analyze new cost of living indexes for three relevant Spanish urban centers that cover from 1680 to 1800. The accounts of several hospital, schools and charitable institutions have been used as main sources to construct these indexes. The three indexes behave in a fairly similar way. They share common trends and cycles and show a significant linear relationship among their logarithmic rates of variation. Nonetheless, some substantial differences in the short and the long term movement of prices may be observed as well. On the one hand, inflationary tensions in the second half of the eighteenth century were more intense in Palencia and Seville than in Madrid. On the other hand, yearly fluctuations in the cost of living were lower in Madrid than in Palencia and Seville. In our opinion, there is evidence suggesting that these differences were mainly due to the greater amount of resources devoted by both council and monarchy to protect consumer from rising prices in Madrid.