Occupational Mobility in the Valencian Model of Intensive Agriculture: a case study of Borriana, 1895-1915

This article presents an analysis of occupational mobility as a way of exploring the distributive effects of structural change linked to globalization. I study the effects of the Valencian model of intensive agriculture and exports in a case study of the city of Borriana: a centre for orange production in eastern Spain. I use individual-level data for all adult males living in the city between 1895 and 1915 to provide quantitative evidence of increasing intragenerational occupational mobility within agrarian occupations as well as between agrarian and non-agrarian occupations. My results show that the probability of agrarian workers ending up in non-agrarian jobs increased and that, relatively speaking, both tenants and labourers became similarly positioned to acquire land during the expansion of citrus cultivation and export.