A perspective on 19th century municipal investment in a time of crisis: 1892-1910

Abstract

The slow use of the revenue allocated to the Municipal Road Fund generated balances of some financial significance, which municipal administrations used, motivated and authorised by successive governments, for other purposes, especially from 1892 onwards, which coincided, not by chance, with the crisis at the end of the Constitutional Monarchy. The municipalities reacted positively to the possibility opened up by the governments and it is above all the municipalities in the interior of the territory that have made the most use of this possibility, but it would be a mistake to conclude that this is a practice of small districts. The amounts requested tended to be low, but they either allowed for the total investment needed for the intervention to be carried out or contributed significantly to it. Local councils favored areas of investment such as the water supply, the Town Hall, the health of public spaces, cemeteries and slaughterhouses. Although it cannot be concluded that this investment led to a complete revitalization of local economies, it is clear that it contributed to an improvement in local living conditions.