Urban penalty in Spain: the case of Alcoy (1857-1930)

This article analyses the evolution of social welfare in one of the pioneer hubs of Spanish industrialization, looking at life expectancy and the existence of an “urban penalty” during some of its stages in Alcoy. We study the concept of urban penalty and its connection with market failures and, to follow, reconstruct life expectancy data and compare it to national data, from diverse province capitals with similar characteristics and other Spanish industrial cities.
Results show that Alcoy’s citizens had a lower life expectancy than the rest of Spain as a consequence of industrial concentration, asphyxiating urbanization and a lack of intervention from the public sector.