The peripheral protectionist backlash in the First Globalization: Spain (1870-1913)

This paper studies the role played by different trade barriers (transport costs, customs and currency) in the evolution of Spanish imports during the <italic>First Globalization</italic> (1870-1913). Through the estimation of several gravity equations with panel data analysis, we obtain the elasticities of imports to each barrier, which allows us to combine them into a single <italic>ad valorem</italic> measure of barriers to trade (which we call the <italic>trade costs tariff equivalent</italic>). More interestingly, the contribution of the barriers to the profile of the <italic>tariff equivalent</italic>, as well as the assignment of an active role to the peseta exchange rate as a barrier, illustrates the existence of a protectionist backlash against the sustained decline in transport costs in the period 1870-1913.