This book analyses the financial policies and institutions developed under the Franco regime over nearly four decades and how key actors banks, savings banks, the foreign sector, the Banco de España and public debt management were used to support the regimes economic objectives.
Situating Francoist financial policy within the broader European context of post-World War II financial repression, it highlights the distinctive features of the Spanish case, shaped by a political dictatorship that profoundly influenced both policy design and institutional practice. By combining institutional analysis with the study of regulation, financial mechanisms and historical evolution, the book offers a nuanced account of the financial history of Francoism and places Spain within broader postwar European patterns of financial interventionism.
Offering new empirical evidence, critical interpretations and comparative perspectives, this volume targets a broad academic audience, including undergraduates seeking an introduction to the Franco regimes financial system, postgraduate and PhD students requiring in-depth analysis for advanced research in economic history, as well as researchers and scholars interested in transnational approaches to economic policy and institutional development.
Introduction: Economy and Finance in Francos Spain
1. Financial
Repression in the Golden Age of Economic Growth: Was Francos Spain
Different?
2. The Role of the Banco de España in the Spanish Financial System
during the Franco Era
3. Currency in Chains: The IEME and Spain's Path from
Autarky to Developmentalism
4. Public Debt and Financial Repression under
Franco's Regime
5. Competition, Financial Regulation and Banking Supervision
during the Franco Regime
6. Savings Banks as an Instrument at the Service of
Franco's Financial and Social Policy, 1940-1970
7. Public and Official Banks:
Pillars of Francoist Economic Strategy. Epilogue
Joaquim Cuevas is an associate professor of economic history in the Economic Analysis Department at the University of Valencia, Spain. His research and teaching focus on economic and financial history, including banking and monetary history, and on industrial and regional development.
María A. Pons is a professor of economic history in the Economic Analysis Department at the University of Valencia, Spain. Her area of specialisation is economic history, with special emphasis on monetary and banking history, financial crises and globalisation.
