Against the power of asking… Administrative barriers to the purchase of tractors in Spain, 1950–1960

Abstract

The mechanization of the Spanish countryside after 1950 has been traditionally understood as a process of induced innovation, a result of rural exodus which put up the price of labour. For this same reason, this process it has been thought to take off only during the 1960s. This article highlights the importance in the incorporation of tractors already in the fifties, despite the existence of strong administrative barriers for their acquisition. In contrast to the significance usually given to the change in agricultural wages, this work emphasizes the negative trend in relative prices (partly due to the Franco's regime price policy) as the principal stimulus for the Spanish mechanization during the decade of 1950. Nevertheless, the serious foreign difficulties of the Spanish economy hindered the purchase of tractors, subjecting it to an administrative complex network for the distribution of the equipment. This article explains such network, as well as the different capacity showed by the Spanish provinces, depending on the ability of actors and institutions to maneuver in that scenario.