Stefano BATTILOSSI y Jaime REIS (eds.), State and Financial Systems in Europe and the USA. Historical Perspectives in the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Centuries, Londres, Ashgate, 2010,240 pp.

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Financial crises and financial reforms in Spain : what have we learned?.

Like the rest of the world, Spain has suffered frequent financial crises and undergone several changes in its regulatory framework. There have been crises that have been followed by reforms of the financial structure, and also troubled financial times with no modification of the regulatory and supervisory regime. In various instances, regulatory changes have predated financial crises, but in others banking crises have occurred without reference to changes in the regulatory regime. Regulation and supervision has been usually absent in the XIXth century, while in the XXth century policy makers have been more active and diligent. Moreover, all major financial crises have been followed by intense financial restructuring, although as elsewhere banking restructuring and interventions not always have been successful (in fact, the cases of failures and mixed results overcome the successful cases). The paper provides a short history of the major financial crises in Spain from 1856 to the present, and also reviews the main financial reforms and the distinctive regulatory regimes that have been in place in this last 150 years time span.Spanish banking; Financial crisis; Financial regulations; Banking reforms;

Oligopolio y tipos de interés en la Banca española, 1942-1975

Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaEl objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la posible utilización por parte de los bancos españoles de acuerdos monopolistas destinados a fijar los tipos de interés en el período comprendido entre el final de la guerra civil española y 1975. El segundo aspecto que va a abordar este artículo es la búsqueda de indicadores cuantitativos y cualitativod del grado de efectividad de dichos acuerdos colusivos. La principal conclusión que se obtiene es que a pesar de la exstencia de un pacto entre las entidades bancarias para controlar los tipos de interés, respaldado por las propias autoridades franquistas, los princippales bancos infringieron dichos acuerdos y compitieron vía precio en el mercado de captación de depósitos, especialmente a partir de 1950ñThis paper discusses the príce collusive behaviour of the main Spanish banks (rom the end of the Civil War to 1975. The second purpose of this paper is to obtain quantitative and qualitative indicators of the degree of effectivetiess of these cartel agreements. I conclude that in spite of the existence of collusive pacts to fix price conditions, the main banks broke cartel agreements and they competed in prices in the deposit market side, and especially from the mid-1950s onward.Publicad

Complex rhamnolipid mixture characterization and its influence on DPPC bilayer organization

Rhamnolipids (RL) are one of the most important classes of biosurfactants produced by microorganisms using a wide range of carbon sources, from a simple carbon source like glucose to complex wastes such as the used cooking oils used in this work. The objective of this work was to learn about the rhamnolipid-phospholipid dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline (DPPC) molecular interactions through the behaviour observed in the neat products and four RL/DPPC mixtures. Size and z-potential were used to characterize the size and the charge of the vesicles, and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was used to measure the vesicle bilayer characteristics, and the release of carboxyfluorescein to study the bilayer disrupting effect promoted by rhamnolipids. The results show that rhamnolipids are disposed in ordered bilayers with long repeating distances, which are stabilized by the charging of the bilayer and also by a strong fluidity of the bilayers. The ability of rhamnolipids to increase the fluidity of DPPC bilayers may be related with the strong haemolytic power of these molecules.We thank Jaume Caelles from the SAXS-WAXS service at IQAC for the X-Ray measurements. Financial support from MINECO CTQ2010-14897 and 24 MAT2012-38047-CO2-02 is gratefully acknowledged. Also financial support from Generalitat de Catalunya 2009SGR1331 is gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewe

Financial crises and financial reforms in Spain : what have we learned?

Like the rest of the world, Spain has suffered frequent financial crises and undergone several changes in its regulatory framework. There have been crises that have been followed by reforms of the financial structure, and also troubled financial times with no modification of the regulatory and supervisory regime. In various instances, regulatory changes have predated financial crises, but in others banking crises have occurred without reference to changes in the regulatory regime. Regulation and supervision has been usually absent in the XIXth century, while in the XXth century policy makers have been more active and diligent. Moreover, all major financial crises have been followed by intense financial restructuring, although as elsewhere banking restructuring and interventions not always have been successful (in fact, the cases of failures and mixed results overcome the successful cases). The paper provides a short history of the major financial crises in Spain from 1856 to the present, and also reviews the main financial reforms and the distinctive regulatory regimes that have been in place in this last 150 years time span

Banca e industria en España. 1939-1985: la influencia de la banca universal en el crecimiento económico

The relationship between financial systems and the real economy attracts a great deal of attention from historians and economists. There remains, however; much disagreement about the ways financial development can promote growth. This problem is even more complex when we are considering “universal” or mixed banks. Mixed banks represent a huge concentration of power and this concentration of power may reduce competition. In this discussion the analysis of the Spanish banking sector from the end of the Civil War to the mid-1980s has special relevance. Firstly, because the Spanish banking played a very important role during the Franco regime. Secondly, Spanish banks were “universal” or mixed banks. In the 1960s and 1970s, criticisms against the Spanish banking sector were very strong. The main reasons of these criticisms were two. Firstly, the financial system failed to provide the capital required in some sectors. The maturity of loans (short-term loans) and the existence of credit discrimination in favour of those sectors where banks had economic interest delayed -according to this literature- the recovery of the Spanish economy. Secondly, Spanish banks behaved monopolistically. This paper has two main objectives. Firstly, to re-evaluate these views. Secondly, to analyze whether empirical evidence allow us to consider that the character of mixed banks contributed (or retarded) the Spanish industrialization in this period.Muchos han sido los esfuerzos realizados por economistas e historiadores para estudiar las relaciones entre el sistema financiero y el sector real de la economía. Pese a ello, el debate sobre el papel desempeñado por el sistema financiero en el crecimiento económico sigue abierto. Esa falta de consenso es todavía más palpable cuando estamos hablando de bancos “mixtos” o “universales”. La literatura financiera resalta las consecuencias negativas asociadas a un sistema de banca mixta tanto por la concentración de poder en manos de estas entidades como por el elevado nivel de riesgo que, en ocasiones, han asumido este tipo de instituciones. En este contexto, el estudio de la banca española y su contribución al crecimiento económico tiene un especial interés. En primer lugar la banca española desempeñó un papel muy relevante durante la etapa franquista. En segundo lugar; la banca española tiene las características de un sistema de banca mixta. El objetivo de este trabajo es doble. En primer lugar; analizar las principales aportaciones que se han realizado sobre la contribución de la banca española al crecimiento económico desde el final de la guerra civil hasta mediados de los setenta y, en segundo lugar; establecer hasta qué punto la evidencia empírica disponible permite evaluar si el carácter “universal” de los bancos españoles fue perjudicial (o no) para el crecimiento de la economía española

150 years of financial regulation in Spain : what can we learn?

This paper explores the changes effected in the Spanish regulatory regimes over the last 150 years, and asks what have been the forces driving the regulatory reforms. A study of the Spanish experience reveals that there was relatively little statutory legislation until 1914 and for a long time there was no reaction to crises. In contrast, regulations have been altered on numerous occasions in the twentieth century. The paper also shows that the regulatory process has been the result of the interplay between economic as well as political economy forces. Moreover, and despite some idiosyncratic features, the Spanish regulatory history is similar to that of other European nations