Joseph Harrison, David Corkill - Spain: A Modern European Economy
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing | 2004-06 | ISBN: 0754601455 | PDF | 241 pages | 1.08 MB



Perhaps more than any other European country, Spain has undergone aremarkable transformation in the post-war period. To the surprise ofmany, it has succeeded in making the leap from a predominantlyagricultural and politically repressed country, to a modern Europeandemocracy with a diversified economy containing important manufacturingand service sectors. Yet, despite the fact that at the beginning of thetwenty-first century Spain is the world's eighth largest economy, oldstereotypes that see the Iberian nation as an inflexible, unchangingsociety, persist.
As such, scholars will welcome this new study which challenges thepicaresque and outdated notions of Spanish economic development,replacing them with a picture of rapid and profound modernization.Building upon the recent work of historians and economists, the authorsprovide a thoughtful and compelling overview of the subject thatclearly elucidates both the positive and negative aspects of modernSpanish development. Thus, as well as charting the undoubted successesachieved, persistent problems - most notably high unemployment - arealso explored.
Written in a straightforward and engaging manner, this book engageswith research from a wide variety of disciplines, and will be ofinterest to anyone with a specific interest in modern Spain, or a widerinterest in economic development within the framework of the EuropeanUnion.