Selected Issues Papers

Spain’s Productivity Gap Vis-à-Vis Europe and the United States: Diagnosis and Remedies

By Ippei Shibata

June 13, 2025

Download PDF More Formats on IMF eLibrary Order a Print Copy
More formats on IMF eLibrary Order a Print Copy

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Ippei Shibata. "Spain’s Productivity Gap Vis-à-Vis Europe and the United States: Diagnosis and Remedies", Selected Issues Papers 2025, 077 (2025), accessed June 14, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229012553.018

Export Citation

  • ProCite
  • RefWorks
  • Reference Manager
  • BibTex
  • Zotero
  • EndNote

Summary

Spain's GDP per capita gap with highest-income euro area economies and the US is mainly due to a productivity shortfall. Spanish tech firms lag in productivity and innovation, partly due to weaker R&D investment. Beyond leading firms, there's a broader lack of dynamism; firms enter small and fail to scale up, resulting in fewer high-growth firms compared to Europe and the US. This scarcity of "gazelles" is linked to limited venture capital, human capital, and regulatory obstacles. Policy remedies include enhancing market integration, improving access to long-term risk capital, and boosting the innovation ecosystem and higher education quality.

Subject: Capital productivity, Commodity markets, Education, Financial markets, Human capital, Labor, Production, Productivity, Total factor productivity

Keywords: Capital markets, Capital productivity, Commodity markets, Economic policy uncertainty, Employment, Firm heterogeneity, Human capital, Investment, Leverage, Productivity, Profitability, Total factor productivity

Publication Details

You May Also Be Interested In...

What is Needed for Convergence? The Role of Capital and Finance

June 13, 2025

Growth, Interrupted: How Crises delay Global Convergence

June 13, 2025

Exploring the Determinants of Early Retirement in Spain: Spain

June 13, 2025

Ukraine: Technical Assistance Report-Foreign Exchange Derivatives Market Development

June 13, 2025