The Spanish System of Grain Banks (Sixteenth–Nineteenth Centuries)

Rafael Barquín Gil () and Pablo A. Martín-Grande ()
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Rafael Barquín Gil: National University of Distance Education (UNED), Applied Economics and Economic History
Pablo A. Martín-Grande: King Juan Carlos University (URJC), Applied Economics I and History and Economic Institutions

A chapter in Business Trajectories in the History of Spain, 2026, pp 19-33 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter analyses the functioning and evolution of the pósitos, the system of grain banks in Spain from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It examines the economic logic of storage and cereal speculation, distinguishing between short- and long-term operations, and assessing their profitability through econometric models and price data. The study explores the development of pósitos as municipal public institutions, designed both to support farmers in years of poor harvests and to guarantee affordable urban food supplies. Although they expanded significantly during the eighteenth century, their profitability was constrained by state regulation, price ceilings, and restrictions on private trade. Their final decline, accelerated by agricultural crises and wars, transformed the pósitos into primarily charitable rather than economic entities, revealing the limited success of the system.

Keywords: Pósitos; Grain banks; Cereal speculation; Economic history; Spain; Ancien régime; Wheat markets; Interest rates; Agrarian history; Royal granaries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:frochp:978-3-032-16214-4_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-16214-4_2

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