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Stabilization and growth under dictatorship: the experience of Franco's Spain

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  • Leandro Prados de la Escosura

    ()

  • Joan R. Rosés

    ()

  • Isabel Sanz Villarroya

    ()

Abstract

Stabilizing and liberalizing policies are key elements of the Washington Consensus. This paper adds a historical dimension to the ongoing debate by assessing the economic impact of market-oriented reforms undertaken during General Franco’s dictatorship, the 1959 Stabilization and Liberalization Plan. Using an index of macroeconomic distortions (IMD) the relationship between economic policies and the growth record is examined. Although a gradual reduction in macroeconomic distortions was already in motion during the 1950s, the 1959 Plan opened the way to a new institutional design that favoured a free-market allocation of resources and allowed Spain to accelerating growth and catching up with Western Europe. Without the 1959 Plan, per capita GDP would have been significantly lower in 1975.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones in its series Working Papers in Economic History with number wp10-02.

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Date of creation: Feb 2010
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Handle: RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp10-02

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Keywords: Macroeconomic policy; Stabilization; Liberalization; Growth; Dictatorship; Anti-market policies; Spain;

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Cited by:
  1. Crafts, Nicholas, 2012. "Western Europe's Growth Prospects: an Historical Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 8827, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  2. Crafts, Nicholas, 2011. "The Marshall Plan: A Reality Check," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 48, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

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