Helen J. PAUL, The South Sea Bubble: An Economic History of its Origins and Consequences, Nueva York, Routledge, 2011,176 pp.

El libro d

Two Great Banking Crises and Their Economic Impact Compared: Spain 1976/1977 and 2008

The 1976/1977 crisis was the most severe in Spanish history, but the losses associated with the 2008 crisis are huge. This paper compares these two great banking crises and identifies the main parallels and differences between them. Is the current crisis as severe as that of 1976? What is the impact on the banking and financial sectors? We show that the 1976 crisis is being surpassed by the 2008 crisis in terms of the decline in GDP, industrial production and unemployment, and that these two events have had at least a similar impact in terms of output gap and output loss. Finally, the financial impact measured by different financial indicators confirms the greater severity of the 2008 crisis.La crisis de 1976/77 fue la más severa de la historia en España, pero las pérdidas asociadas a la crisis de 2008 han sido también enormes. Este trabajo compara las dos grandes crisis bancarias e identifica los principales paralelismos y diferencias entre ambas. ¿Es la crisis actual tan severa como la de 1976? ¿Cuál ha sido su impacto en la banca y en el sector financiero? El trabajo muestra que la crisis de 1976 se ha visto sobrepasada por la de 2008 en términos de caída en el PIB, producción industrial y empleo, y que estos dos acontecimientos han tenido al menos un impacto similar en términos de output loss y output gap. Finalmente, el impacto financiero medido a través de diferentes indicadores confirma la mayor severidad de la crisis de 2008.This paper has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MINECO) ECO2009-08791 and MINECO/FEDER ECO2015-66782-P

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

Financial crises in Spain: lessons from the last 150 years

Financial crises are not unique to current financial systems. Are crises alike? Have they become more frequent, longer lasting and more severe since the 20th century? What does history tell us? The objective of this paper is to study the financial crises that have occurred in Spain over the last 150 years. We consider different types of crises (banking, currency and stock market crises), together with all their possible combinations, estimate their frequency by period and measure their length and depth. The main conclusion we obtain is that Spanish crises have been more frequent than in the rest of the world and have been more severe and more complex since 1973, as the 2007 crisis is confirming.Las crisis financieras no son un fenómeno reciente. ¿Son todas las crisis parecidas?, ¿han sido las crisis más frecuentes, largas y severas en el siglo XX?, ¿qué nos muestra la historia? El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar las crisis financieras en España en los últimos 150 años. Se han considerado diferentes tipos de crisis (bancarias, de tipo de cambio y bursátiles), así como sus posibles combinaciones, se ha estimado la frecuencia de las crisis en varios períodos y se ha medido su duración e intensidad. La principal conclusión obtenida es que las crisis financieras en España han sido más frecuentes que en el resto del mundo y desde 1973 han sido también más severas y más complejas, como está confirmando la crisis que estalló en 2007.This paper received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation ECO2009-0879

La transferencia de tecnología en España en el primer tercio del siglo XX: el papel de la industria de bienes de equipo

This paper analyzes the elements that contributed to technological transfer and diffusion in the Spanish industry during the first third of the 20lh century, a period in which significant changes in its productive structure began, with important consequences for the advance of industrialization. We emphasize, in the crucial process of renewal of the investment goods, not only the relevance of imports but also of the national production. The participation of foreign enterprises was substantial through the establishment of affiliated companies owned together with the national producers. The induced effects were the following: new technological knowledge and applications approached the Spanish industry; investment associated to quality, price, and post-sale service of those goods was stimulated; human capital formation and the demand of industrial intermediate products was fostered. In short, conditions to absorb the new technologies were provided.En este trabajo se analizan 10s factores que contribuyeron a la difusión y transferencia de tecnología en la industria española durante el primer tercio del siglo XX, un periodo en que tuvieron lugar cambios significativos en su estructura, con importantes consecuencias para el avance de la industrialización. Se destaca cómo en el importante proceso de renovación de bienes de equipo no sólo fue relevante la importación sino también la producción nacional, siendo sustancial en ésta la participación de las empresas extranjeras, mediante el establecimiento de filiales conjuntamente con 10s productores nacionales. Los efectos inducidos fueron: poner al alcance 10s conocimientos y aplicaciones de las nuevas tecnologías, animar a la inversión por la calidad, precio y servicio post-venta de estos bienes, la formación de mano de obra cualificada y la demanda de productos intermedios industriales. En definitiva, generando las condiciones para la absorción de nuevas tecnologías