Social and environmental filters to market incentives: common land persistence in 19th century Spain

The regional diversity of communal persistence in 19th century Spain has been well documented by historiography. Although the explanation of this divergence has been attributed to the social and environmental context, together with the prevailing market incentives that characterized the different rural societies of this period, there has been no clear assessment of the role played by each. Through a comparative study of the historical data at the provincial level, this paper analyzes the relative contribution of these elements to that divergence. The results diminish the significance of market signals and show how the social and environmental conditions of these communities interacted to limit, or promote, the dismantling of the common lands.