Has Austerity Worked in Spain?

David Rosnick and Mark Weisbrot

CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Abstract: This paper examines Spain’s recent economic history, both before and after its recession, with a focus on employment, contributions to GDP growth, and the current account balance. The paper notes that Spain has pursued a set of economic policies since 2011 based on internal currency devaluation, labor market reform, fiscal consolidation, and structural and deregulatory reforms aimed at boosting growth through increased efficiency. It concludes that the economic recovery that began in the second half of 2013 is not the result of austerity policies, and is unlikely to rescue Spain from mass unemployment in the foreseeable future.

Keywords: austerity; Spain; unemployment; euro; European Central Bank; International Monetary Fund; current account balance; labor force participation; construction; eurozone; recession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E E2 E24 E5 E58 F N N9 N94 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2015-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-mac and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epo:papers:2015-27

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