ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with debates on development issues in the Spanish economy from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s. In general terms, the notion of ‘development economics’ as a field only came to light after the Second World War, particularly in the 1950s. In Spain, initial attempts at industrialisation were made in the late nineteenth century, with economic debates centred on the need to introduce the gold standard and on protectionism versus liberalism. The subject of political economy was taught first in the faculties of law and in some trade schools that emerged in Spain due to growth of production, commercial expansion and the need to train experts to comply with the accounting regulations established since 1549 for merchants and bankers. The debate on money is related to a discussion on the incorporation of Spain into a European or international monetary system with the Latin Monetary Union and the gold standard.
