Los harinócratas. Organizaciones, mercado e inquietudes inversoras de los empresarios de Castilla la Vieja y León, 1820-1868

Abstract

This paper defends the thesis that around flour businesses, in the middle decades of the nineteenth century in Old Castile, companies emerged that were comparable in size, organization and investment propensity of their owners. The sector was characterized, from a business point of view, by high horizontal and vertical concentration. That is, flour companies were strong and highly diversified but they maintained their family nature. There were no major distinctions between business and family. They were therefore very vulnerable, which is why they fell victim to the 1864 financial crisis. However, their mere existence belies the idea that modern forms of capital groupings and competition were inexistent since they acted as market suppliers during the first industrial revolution in this region.