ABSTRACT
It is difficult to specify a single factor behind the setback to Spain during the third period of the reign of Ferdinand VII. What is clear is that the cost of maintaining an archaic political and economic system – in terms of lost opportunities – was very high. This stagnation was all the greater for its coinciding with the huge changes going on in the countries of Northern Europe, where industrial development was taking shape. The reports available even suggest a parallel decline in production in Spain, with no compensating growth in farming and services. This effectively meant a drop in the relative levels of income in Spain compared to the rest of Western Europe, and recovery would be long in coming.1
