Spanish consumerism

• new wealth encouraged the emergence of a consumer economy. This was the part of a broader plan to create a harmonious society.
• Lopez Rodo, most prominent technocrat, hoped the emergence of a consumer society would solve Spain's political problems. He believed social tensions would disappear once Spain achieved an annual income of $2000 per person
• His view began to take place during the 1960's. Was a decade of many Spaniards living in unprecedented luxury.
• 1960's:

  • number of households with a washing machine went from 19% - 52%
  • those with fridges went from 4% - 66%
  • those with cars went from 1% - 10%
  • Average incomes 3x during 1960's
• Franco's propaganda presented the economic growth as an 'economic miracle', which was the result of the policy of developmentism. In reality the economic boom was caused by the end of autarky, which allowed the Spanish economy to benefit from the boom in the international economy.
• the 'economic miracle' was not good news for everybody. Free market policies led to an increasing gap between the richest provenances of the north and the poorest south. Badajoz and Granada had per capita incomes which were less than 1/2 of the Basque provenance of Vizcaya. 1970 - 70% of homes in Madrid had TV sets, compared with only 11% in Soria