DEL CAOS AL COSMOS: UNA NUEVA SERIE ENLAZADA DEL PRODUCTO INTERIOR BRUTO DE ESPAÑA ENTRE 1850 Y 2000

The aim of this paper is to build a new and more solid estimation of Spain's Gross Domestic Product from 1850 to 2000. The article summarizes the country's National Accounting history and reviews the elaboration of the historical national accounts. It also analyzes the possibility of erroneous and inconsistent data. It shows there is no reason to pass over the official estimates; on the contrary, they should be incorporated with adequate measures to overcome the lack of homogeneity. Lastly, it describes the methodology used to build the new GDP and GDP per capita series for the whole period. The new data imply important upward corrections of the national accounts prior to 1954, while they are consistent when linked to the official series. Hence, the interpretation of certain periods of Spanish economic history have to be substantially modified. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]