The Roots and Relevance of Fundamental Work on the Spanish Economy

When we are faced with this seminal book on the Spanish economy – and, moreover, in its 26th edition, we immediately feel compelled to discover its roots, because reading this edition gives us extraordinary insight into this work. interest is shown.

For this reason, the first antecedent I find in this from a scientific point of view is, in my opinion, the work of Hicks, published in 1942, The Social Framework, in the environment of the University of Oxford. But this, in turn, was an antecedent to Hicks’s own production, because, in his famous contribution, Values ​​and Capital (1939), he apparently went beyond the simple microeconomic approach and provided social ideas, from the macroeconomic realm. that explains the realities. economic, within an environment that has since tended to generalize.

Thanks to that British-era connection, Professor Olariaga, then director of the Superior Banking Council—where I went to work in 1947 when I completed my bachelor’s in economic sciences—allowed me to discover that contribution. Library of the said institution. And with that I went to a seminar session on Ibero-American economic problems at the Institute of Hispanic Culture, where a more recent graduate was also present, Enrique Fuentes Quintana, who saw this book and asked me to take it home for at least 24 hours. I agreed and when we talked later, he told me that both of us should systematically orient the data on the Spanish economy that we constantly analyzed.

From there came a whole set of conferences by Fuentes Quintana and, his contribution to the so-called Academy of Sciences and Law, where he taught classes for those who decided to oppose the status of state commercial technicians, one of which was Ramon Tamameso, which, moreover, was an assistant to the practical classes of the group that I had developed, in the faculty, as the professor in charge. For this reason, he knew the importance of this work by Hicks, and, having brilliantly attained the position of State Commercial Technician, he proceeded to show me the notes taken during Fuentes Quintana’s explanation, believing that that they were the basis for potential publications. ,

Stackelberg, on the other hand, pointed out that the subject of the degree on the Spanish economy, as its initial name, should be the title of World Economic Structure and Spain. Well, about Spanish, Ramón Tames immediately went to teach in my group.

This was the core of his orientation, and, when he managed to become Professor of Economic Structure at the University of Málaga, he considered that his teachings and his work should be continually expanded and specified.

The same thing happened, over and over again, brought in another economics professor like him, anthony wheelAs both explained these issues at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

As we all know, the Spanish economy, from 1974 until now, had essentially changed, above all because of our complete integration into that fundamental sector of the world economy, which is the European Union, Professor Tames is the author of A Thousand Works like this.

But he also realized the extraordinary importance that, in his analysis of the Spanish economy, Prof. parpignanAnd from this comes the connection of the so-called physical science – we all like to call it a natural basis – in the progress of the Spanish economy.

There we have two bases, the European theme and our natural base, which has always been fundamental in successive editions of this book. More, naturally, in its earlier steps, when analyzing recent historical data, past economic history was also included as a foundation – for example, the collapse of the agricultural reform or the disappearance of the National Institute of Industry or Status of the Bank of Spain – , facts which were included in successive editions.

At the same time, the authors of this book understood the great change that the “growing world of services” had produced, which became a more continuous analysis and new element, which, in this edition, as a chapter, ICT and Digitization. (pp. 577-597). Of course, it is necessary to add that, due to Tamms’ role as state commercial technician, whatever he contributes on trade policy, balance of payments and foreign investment becomes extremely valuable.

In short, Tamms and Rueda have now become the authors of a seminal work that shows how the workings of the national economy should be written.