Open Access
Limits to redistribution in late democratic transitions: the case of Spain
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Economía; Ekonomia
This chapter reviews the experience of one country from the European periphery, Spain, in the period 1960 to 1990. It addresses the possibilities to build up an operative welfare state after recent democratization¿past the golden age of economic growth in Western economies, and during the second globalization. The new context made it difficult to develop determined redistributive policies where they had been absent before. Economic distress, increasing capital mobility, and new tax ideas challenged the chances of progressive taxation. Furthermore, the recent dictatorship cast long-lasting shadows in the new representative institutions. This study of the Spanish experience is thus an analysis of time-specific and polity-specific constraints on redistribution, which other new democracies might have faced or could encounter in the near future.
Open Access
The prevalence of publicly stimulated innovations: a comparison of Finland and Sweden, 1970-2013
(Elsevier, 2019-02-18) Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Pelkonen, Antti; Oksanen, Juha; Kander, Astrid; Economía; Ekonomia
While the role played by the state in stimulating innovation in the private sector has been a prevalent interest in innovation research, studies analysing the impacts of public interventions have usually focused on individual policies, programs or projects. Public stimulation is hence often studied from a relatively restricted and temporarily confined perspective, leaving a macro-level and longer-term perspective unrecognized. This article provides further evidence on the matter by examining how many innovations in Finland and Sweden have been publicly stimulated through funding or research collaboration, over a period of more than four decades (1970-2013). Our main source is a new innovation database constructed following the Literature Based Innovation Output (LBIO) method, which gathers the most significant innovations of both countries for the study period, totalling approximately 4100 Swedish and 2600 Finnish innovations. Our results indicate that the public sector has played a very prominent role in stimulating private innovation in both countries, and with an increasing trend. This is especially true for Finland, where 35-55% of the innovations of the period have been stimulated by public funding and 25-65% by collaboration with public research. In Sweden, the share of publicly stimulated innovations has been somewhat lower and erratic, but has increased over time.
Open Access
Sistema fiscal y redistribución: La transición fiscal española (1960-1990)
(Universidad de Valparaiso, 2016) Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Economía; Ekonomia; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
La tesis analiza el sistema fiscal español entre los años 1960 y 1990, con especial atención a sus efectos en la distribución de la renta. Se abordan las reformas que tuvieron lugar durante la transición a la democracia, aportando una evaluación cuantitativa consistente de los cambios. A causa de la larga dictadura sufrida por el país entre 1936/39 y 1976, España introdujo las ideas fiscales del siglo XX con considerable retraso respecto de sus vecinos, manteniendo largamente un sistema de impuestos bajos, regresivos e ineficientes. Con el retorno de la democracia, diversas leyes de reforma fiscal pretendieron hacer el sistema más progresivo y capaz de generar mayores ingresos públicos, para la financiación de un incipiente Estado del Bienestar. El principio de progresividad, sin embargo, tuvo una aplicación práctica limitada. Los cálculos de la tesis lo muestran así, estimando la distribución resultante de la carga fiscal, la persistencia en las desigualdades de renta, y el fuerte impacto del fraude en la imposición personal. La interpretación ofrecida se sitúa entre el legado de la dictadura en la configuración del régimen parlamentario y el nuevo contexto económico, que combinaba la ralentización del crecimiento con una mayor apertura y movilidad internacional del capital.
Open Access
Sticky income inequality in the Spanish transition (1973-1990)
(Cambridge University Press, 2016) Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Economía; Ekonomia; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
Este artículo analiza la evolución de la desigualdad de rentas en España durante la transición a la democracia, proponiendo un método para corregir la infra-declaración de ingresos en las Encuestas de Presupuestos Familiares. La contribución es doble: la metodología, basada en la discrepancia entre rentas y gastos y en el ajuste a Contabilidad Nacional, puede ser de utilidad para fuentes históricas similares en otros países. En segundo lugar, su aplicación resulta en una interpretación alternativa en este caso, al cambiar los niveles de desigualdad y también la tendencia observada. Si la literatura anterior había tratado de una sustancial mejora en la distribución, vinculada a la democracia, tras el ajuste efectuado la desigualdad en la renta disponible se muestra bastante persistente.
Open Access
Did democracy bring redistribution? Insights from the Spanish tax system, 1960-90
(Oxford University Press, 2015) Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Economía; Ekonomia; Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE
The relationship between democracy, inequality, and redistribution has inspired extensive research, but consensus is still elusive. In order to contribute to this discussion, the author analyzes the Spanish case, where transition to democracy was accompanied by a comprehensive tax reform, aiming at increasing progressivity and revenue. But how effectively did it change the distribution of the tax burden? Was there a “fiscal revolution”? The results show that persistent regressivity (albeit decreasing) exacerbated income inequality, failing to attain convergence with more developed countries. The joint effect of the fiscal system, however, was slightly positive due to progressive social spending.
Open Access
Growth, inequality and extraction in Ibero-American democratizations
(2017) Ducoing Ruiz, Cristián; Torregrosa Hetland, Sara
Will democracy improve the distribution of economic welfare? Do dictatorships leave long-run legacies behind? In this paper we explore four Ibero-American countries with some common historical traits, but also different contexts: Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and Chile. The two Iberian nations suffered long periods of autocratic regime in the 20th Century, while our south American cases had relatively later and shorter dictatorships. We intend to assess the extent to which democratization brought about improvements in societal welfare, combining indicators of inequality and economic performance. We propose the applicability of the concept of Inequality Extraction Ratio, initially suggested for ancient societies but adapted by Milanovic (2013b) to the analysis of contemporary economies. Our hypothesis is that democratizations, while probably not able to achieve reductions in inequality, could have promoted decreases in relative extraction.
Open Access
Natural resources curse in the long run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the nordic countries' mirror
(MDPI, 2018-03-26) Ducoing Ruiz, Cristián; Peres-Cajías, José; Badia-Miró, Marc; Bergquist, Ann-Kristin; Contreras, Carlos; Ranestad, Kristin; Torregrosa Hetland, Sara; Economía; Ekonomia
The new estimates of the Maddison Project show that GDP per capita ratio at purchasing power parity (ppp) between Bolivia and Finland has changed from 0.68 ca. 1850 to 0.16 in 2015; similarly, that between Chile and Norway from 0.65 to 0.28. The aim of this article is to present a review of the literature and available quantitative evidence to understand how these extreme differences became possible between countries with similarly enormous natural resource endowments. Specifically, the article seeks to: (a) identify some stylized facts that may help understand the divergence between Andean and Nordic countries; (b) identify key historical processes that explain the divergent effect of natural resource abundance in Andean and Nordic economies. In order to achieve these objectives, four topics are covered: GDPpc, population, trade and taxation. The analysis comprises three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and three Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile and Peru) from the mid-Nineteenth Century to present day. The sample size, time span covered and thematic approach provide new evidence regarding previous work.