Transforming mineral capital into human capital? Mining and education in early twentieth-century Spain

Abstract Using a highly detailed dataset at the municipality level, drawn from the Spanish Mining Cadastre of 1890, this paper shows how the mining sector affected education provision and human capital formation in early twentieth century Spain. The results indicate that there were two patterns in mining towns. Those mines that invested in technology, those highly productive, and those with post-extraction industries linkages were able to transform mineral capital into human capital. However, in areas where mines were characterized by unskilled labour and low living standard, the mining sector had a negative impact on education, especially in women’s human capital formation.