Autore: Perrotta, Cosimo
Titolo: POverty and development in XVI century Spain and England : the first policy of human capital
Periodico: International Center for Economics Research, Torino. ICER - Working papers series
Anno: 1999 - Fascicolo: 27 - Pagina iniziale: 1 - Pagina finale: 21

In XVI century western Europe had to face a new phenomenon: the huge increase of the unemployed poor and of beggars. This was particularly keen in Spain and in England; where the conflict between the feudal classes and the new commercial classes was more acute. But the policies applied in these countries, and the results they produced were very different. In Spain there was a clash between two opposite views. One saw the phenomenon in the medieval way of a religious and moral problem; the other saw it in a modern way: as a social problem. But both views did not bound the social problem of the poor to the economic problems of development. They never saw the poor as human capital. Thus the modern approach did not succeed, and the medieval approach prevailed. On the contrary, the concern for employment and development prevailed in England since the beginning. The policy implemented in England led to a rapid increase of manufactories and fostered powerfully economic development. While the approach that prevailed in Spain was among the causes - certainly not the least one - of Spanish economic decline.




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