The balance-of-payments constraint on economic growth in a long-term perspective: Spain, 1850–2000

Oscar Bajo-Rubio ()

Explorations in Economic History, 2012, vol. 49, issue 1, 105-117

Abstract: The balance of payments can act as a constraint on the rate of growth of output, since it puts a limit on the growth in the level of demand to which supply can adapt. In this paper, we examine this issue for the case of Spain, using time series data extending over the period 1850–2000. Overall, the external deficit does not seem to have worked as a constraint on the growth of the Spanish economy over the long run, unless some shorter and specific subperiods, such as 1940–1959 and 1959–1974. The Spanish economy seems to have used external deficits to smooth her level of aggregate consumption, which would be supported by the finding of sustainability of current account deficits along the period of analysis.

Keywords: Economic growth; External deficit; Spanish economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F41 F43 N10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001449831100060X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: The balance-of-payments constraint on economic growth in a long-term perspective: Spain, 1850-2000 (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:49:y:2012:i:1:p:105-117

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2011.11.001

Access Statistics for this article

Explorations in Economic History is currently edited by R.H. Steckel

More articles in Explorations in Economic History from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().