Exploring Food System Transformations in Spain (1980-2021)

Autor/a

Parajuá Carpintero, Noelia

Director/a

Tello, Enric

Serrano, Mònica (Serrano Gutiérrez)

Data de defensa

2023-12-20

Pàgines

272 p.



Departament/Institut

Universitat de Barcelona. Facultat d'Economia i Empresa

Resum

[eng] In this PhD Thesis, I examine the transformations of the Spanish food system from 1980 to the present, focusing on its socioeconomic structural changes and their impacts on sustainability and social equity. My research is grounded in agrarian history and political economy approaches, and also incorporates insights from ecological and feminist economics. The first and third Chapters are empirical in nature. Based primarily on data from Spanish national accounts, the results demonstrate the increasing integration of the Spanish agri-food system into the global one and the growing dependence of agriculture on external inputs. They also reveal a sharp decline in the agrarian population along with the increase in the share of salaried work. This is explained by the reduction in the number of farms throughout the period, particularly small family farms, which also show an aging process of their holders. The decline of the agrarian income has been a major determinant in this path. The combination of these trends jeopardizes the present and future reproduction of Spanish agroecosystems. I also examine the evolution of food expenditure of Spanish households, as a first exploration of the food cost in the reproduction of labouring population. The results show a halt in the reduction of its weight, but further research is needed for a definitive conclusion. Additionally, the results suggest an increasing inequality in the distribution of value added along the agri-food chain. In the second Chapter, I develop a research framework to investigate food systems at a national level, and particularly their role in the reproduction mechanisms of the capitalist system in which they are embedded, based on the approaches of the food regimes, social metabolism, and surplus/reproduction. This framework has helped me to interpret the results from the first and third Chapters from a more comprehensive approach. The framework includes six dimensions encompassing 36 elements linked through six key cross-cutting connections.

Paraules clau

Política econòmica; Política económica; Economic policy; Història de l'agricultura; Historia de la agricultura; History of agriculture; Indústria alimentària; Industria alimentaria; Food industry; Hàbits alimentaris; Hábitos alimenticios; Food habits; Espanya; España; Spain; 1980-2021

Matèries

33 - Economia

Àrea de coneixement

Ciències Jurídiques, Econòmiques i Socials

Nota

Programa de Doctorat en Història Econòmica

Documents

NPC_PhD_THESIS.pdf

3.094Mb

 

Drets

L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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