EH.Net Abstracts in Economic History

                ABSTRACTS IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
                     (c) 2007 EH.Net
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Name: Alberte Martínez
Email: almalo at udc.es
Institution: University of A Coruna

Co-author: none

Title: Belgian Investments in the railway network of Catalonia, 1890-1936

Internet Address of abstracted work: 
http://www.funcas.ceca.es/Publicaciones/Documentos_Trabajo.asp 


By mail:
Facultade de Ciencias Económicas e Empresariais 
Universidade da Coruna 15071 A Coruna (Spain)

Language: Spanish

Abstract:
This article looks at Belgian companies with 
interests in the Catalonian railway sector. These 
began to be founded at the end of the 19th 
century, a process that is intimately linked to 
the rise of the Brussels stock exchange and the 
recently established legislative framework for 
railways which favoured narrow gauge lines, which 
most of these initiatives adopted. These 
companies were set up in areas with strong 
economic and demographic potential and aimed to 
provide an outlet for industrial and agricultural 
production, connecting with broad gauge lines and 
the ports, in particular with Barcelona.

The economic results were, in general, modest due 
to the financial burden that the projects 
entailed. This situation worsened during the post 
war years and the great depression, which, in 
combination with the nationalistic climate of the 
age, forced the firms, either into liquidation, 
or to sell their assets to Spanish firms. In 
spite of the eventual decline of these companies, 
they were, in general, more firmly established, 
their results were better, and they survived 
longer than their counterparts in the rest of 
Spain.

Bibliography: Martínez López, Alberte. "Los 
intereses belgas en la red ferroviaria catalana, 
1890-1936." Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorro, 
Documento de Trabajo no. 285.

Subject: B, H
Geographical Area: 4
Country/Region: Catalonia (Spain)
Time Period: 7, 8

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