Economic effects of recent experiences of federalism: Analysis of the regionalization process in Spain

Abstract

Setting limits on government action is critical to economic development. Some forms of government organization, such as market-preserving federalism, seem effective to protect property rights in the long term with good results for economic efficiency. Spain endowed its regions with "Statutes of Autonomy" in the 1980s thus moving from a centralized to a decentralized form of government. It renewed and expanded some of the statutes in the 2000s. This article investigates whether these two waves of regionalization, which had their own characteristics in each region, had led to positive effects on economic performance. Using a novel autonomous region/country-matched balanced sample for the period 1950-2016, we apply the synthetic control method and compare the economic growth trajectories of Spanish regions with their synthetic control groups not affected by the regionalization process. We show that the first wave of "Statutes of Autonomy" had a positive but temporary economic growth impact. By contrast, the second wave of regionalization of the 2000s is associated with a negative growth impact.

9. A propósito da regionalização em Portugal: o processo em Espanha

“…151.º) das regiões históricas, como Catalunha (1979), P. Basco (1979), Galiza (1981 e Andaluzia (1981), que lhes atribuiu de imediato um elevado número de competências, e ii) pela via "comum", no caso das demais regiões. Para além das 2 vias gerais, a Const.78 (primeira disposição adicional) reconhece "direitos históricos dos territórios forais" e especificidades próprias, nomeadamente no campo fiscal ("haciendas forales"), ao P. Basco e Navarra (Moreno, 2002;Carrión-I-Silvestre et al, 2008;Gil-Serrate et al, 2011;Aray, 2018;Mora-Sanguinetti e Spruk, 2023). Assim, todas as regiões espanholas obtiveram o seu 1.º estatuto de autonomia antes de 1984, e a partir de 2006, quatro das CA (Catalunha, 2006, Andaluzia e Aragão, 2007, e Canárias, 2018 renovaram os seus estatutos de autonomia, e outras 4 outras (Valência, Castela e Leão, Ilhas Baleares e Extremadura) aprofundaram os seus estatutos e poderes.…”

Institutions, growth and comparative economic development: geographical and methodological perspectives

“…As indicated byMora-Sanguinetti and Spruk (2022), in some European countries such as Spain, regional governments pass far more laws than central government.8 See alsoRodríguez-Pose and Ezcurra (2009); Rodriguez-Pose and Ezcurra (2010) for studies examining the specific links between decentralization and growth.…”