El crecimiento del producto agrario por habitante de La Rioja en la Edad Moderna

An analysis is presented on the evolution of the gross agricultural product per capita of La Rioja region during the period 1588-1591 and 1771-1775. For this purpose, use has been made of the tithes declared in the veros valores by the churches of Castile for the distribution of the ecclesiastical taxes –subsidio and excusado–. This work is part of a national project that aims to set new proxies of agricultural growth, both in aggregate and per capita terms, calculated through the output side. After analysing the tithe incomes declared by the Church, the most noticeable conclusion is that the agricultural product and per capita agricultural product grew between the late sixteenth century and the third quarter of the eighteenth century. This fact is far from the negative image that European historiography presents of the primary sector of Western Europe in general, and the Mediterranean countries in particular. KEY Classification-JEL: N13. N33. O10. O40