Catalina Gálvez

Financialisation and the economic crisis in Spain

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the relationship between the financial crisis and the real economic crisis in Spain. The main hypothesis put forward by is that financialisation, which lies at the root of the financial crisis, has also implied changes in the real and financial behaviour of private (and public) agents, which explain the extent and prolonged duration of the crisis in European and other advanced economies, in general, and in Spain in particular. With this aim in mind, we first analyse the financialisation process of the Spanish economy, and then its effects on households, non-financial corporations, and the external sector. Finally, we focus on the mistakes in the management of fiscal policy and in the management of the Spanish banking crisis that have helped to deepen the economic crisis.

The impact of the financial and economic crises on European Union member states

Although the Great Recession is a global phenomenon, with roots outside the European Union (EU), its impact has been deeper and longer lasting in the EU than elsewhere. However, the impact of the Great Recession has not been the same in all the European countries. The objective of this chapter is to analyse the different effects of the economic and financial crisis among the European Union member states, focusing on the behaviour of a number of real and financial variables since the year 2003 to evaluate the impact of the crisis. Thus, we will analyse the performance of 17 economic variables grouped into seven categories: economic activity, labour market, income distribution, inflation, balance of payments, public finances, and financial balance sheets of total economy and sectors.

Unemployment and labour force participation in Spain

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between the unemployment rate and the labour force participation rate in Spain. Cointegration analysis is performed for aggregate, male and female time-series. Results suggest that there is no a long-run relationship between the two variables for the aggregate and male cases. However, the findings support a long-run relationship between the two variables for the female time-series. Thus, the unemployment invariance hypothesis is supported in the two former cases but not in the latter.