Facultad de Económicas y CC Empresariales

El análisis de las principales variables de carácter económico, en las últimas décadas del siglo XXI, es muy interesante para estudiar la evolución de los países de Oriente Próximo que tienen salida al Mediterráneo. En concreto, en este trabajo se analizará la especialización productiva de Turquía, Siria, Líbano, Israel, los territorios palestinos y Egipto. Se hará un especial hincapié en su PIB per cápita y su índice de desarrollo humano a través de los datos obtenidos del Banco Mundial y del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo. Finalmente, también se examinará, en función de la especialización productiva de estas economías, cuál es la composición de su comercio exterior, es decir, los principales bienes que exportan e importan, y a qué países. Los resultados obtenidos se basan en los datos proporcionados por The Growth Lab at Harvard University (2023) para el año 2021

In 1962, the Ley de Bases para la Ordenación del Crédito y de la Banca (LBOCB) was passed, which sought, at least theoretically, to introduce greater competition in the Spanish banking sector. After more than a century, the banking sector was forced to specialize and to choose between the provision of commercial services (the raising of short-term deposits and loans and discounting of bills) or the financing of industrial activities (typical of industrial banking). The sector, characterized by the presence of a multitude of small and medium-sized banks, presented oligopolistic features as more than 80% of the resources were in the hands of the large national banks. The aim of this paper is to characterize the activity of Spanish banks in 1955 and 1965. By means of a multicriteria analysis, a classification of the banks according to different parameters is proposed, with the aim of contrasting whether the banking strategy was similar or not. This work is framed in the tradition of the New Economic History or Cliometrics developed in the 70's of the 20th century, characterized by the interconnection of mathematics, economics, and statistics in the historical analysis.

En 1962 se aprobaba la Ley de Bases para la Ordenación del Crédito y de la Banca. La finalidad de la nueva ley era acabar con el statu quo bancario, liberalizando el sector y forzando su especialización. Desde un punto de vista de la historia bancaria este período se ha investigado muy profusamente. Sin embargo, estos estudios se han centrado fundamentalmente en el comportamiento del mercado nacional, sin tener en cuenta que el mer cado relevante en el que compiten los bancos privados es el regional y/o el local. La casi inexistencia de datos desagregados por provincias de los balances de la banca privada española para ese período explicaría este hecho. La presente investigación analiza la evolución de la concentración bancaria entre 1963 y 1975 en todas las provincias españolas, con el objetivo de determinar en qué medida el cambio institucional del año 1962 modificó la estructura de estos mercados.

Unemployment is one of the main problems facing today's economies. In the context of the European Union, it is the Mediterranean economies that have traditionally shown a less favorable evolution of unemployment. This paper presents an explanatory model of the evolution of unemployment in two of these Mediterranean economies, Greece, and Spain, since the launching of the European Monetary Union. These were two of the European economies hardest hit by the Great Recession of 2008 and subsequently by the pandemic in 2020, so it is interesting to study which economic factors would explain the evolution of their unemployment rates. For this purpose, economic variables such as GDP pc, the output gap, investment, deficit, the employment rate by educational levels, inflation, labour productivity, labour force and public spending as a percentage of GDP. On the other hand, it is interesting to note to what extent Greece and Spain have or have not shown similar patterns of behavior of their labour markets so far this century, and what kind of economic policy measures could be put in place to ensure that both countries cease to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the EU. Finally, it will be analyzed how they have been affected by the Great Recession and the covid health crisis.

Since their creation in the mid-19th century, savings banks have played a crucial role in the Spanish economy, not only at the national level but also regionally and locally. These centuries-old institutions have deep roots in the municipalities and provinces where they offered their services. From the beginning of the 20th century, they became significant competitors to private banks. Recognizing that the working classes, traditional customers of the savings banks, would be key to their development in the medium term, private banks established their own savings sections. In this context, the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid, during Franco's regime—a period financially dominated by private banks—managed to capture a large portion of the savings resources in the province of Madrid and positioned itself alongside the major national banks of the era. What strategy did it employ during a period characterized by significant legislative changes aimed at increasing competition in the sector? How did a savings bank manage to compete on an equal footing with the powerful national banks of Franco's regime? These are the main questions this article aims to answer.

One of the main concerns facing societies today is unemployment, although its evolution is not the same in all economies. Moreover, it is one of the variables that can not only delay but also prevent real convergence between the Member States of the European Union. This is the reason why it is necessary to know the determinants of the evolution of the unemployment rate. The aim of this paper is to present an explanatory model of unemployment since the beginning of the 21st century in two Mediterranean economies, Greece and Cyprus, which have important historical, cultural and economic ties. The identification of variables that may influence unemployment makes it possible to determine wheth er the response of the Greek and Cypriot authorities to reduce it has been adequate.