Crime and Punishment in the Black Market in Spain, 1940-53: An Analysis of the Fiscalía de Tasas

Abstract

On the background of economic theory concerning price controls and rationing, the article analyses the legislation dealing with black market activities in Spain during the 1940s and early 1950s, as well as Supreme Court sentences related to black market crimes, and the archive from the Fiscalía Provincial de Tasas en Teruel. It is demonstrated that the initial legislation was distinguished by severe harshness, but a gradual, although never complete, normalization of the jurisdictional system took place over the years. Harsh sentences were handed out by the Supreme Courts, but the limited activities of the Fiscalía de Tasas indicate that black market activities were, at least to some degree, tolerated by the regime. Although this was an advantage from the point of view of social welfare, the price control and rationing system continued to have serious flaws, including a deficient distribution of production quotas, the possibility of diversion, and the belated introduction of a parallel market.