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What exactly is productivity and how can we measure it? Where does Spain lie in terms of its productivity compared to the rest of the euro area? With this article, we launch a series on the fundamentals of the Spanish economy, which will continue in the monthly reports of the coming months.

If you have read the newspapers this past month of August and have not felt a certain sense of discouragement, either your holiday destination was magical or you are a true optimist.

The global economy demonstrated notable resilience during 2025, providing a good starting point for 2026, such that the global economy could continue to grow at a rate of around 3%, with globally stable inflation. However, the risks to the baseline global scenarios have increased significantly following the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran, which has triggered a surge in oil and gas prices and turmoil in the financial markets. 

In October, the main stock market indices reached all-time highs, the dollar appreciated, sovereign debt yields declined and euro area peripheral spreads narrowed. Commodities exhibited disparity between the rise in metals and the decline in crude oil prices. The central banks fulfilled expectations: the Fed cut rates and the ECB kept them unchanged.

The biggest expansionary deployment from monetary policy in history is still in force today, and the recent shift in strategy by the world’s two major central banks – which let us not forget was intended to encourage an increase in inflation expectations – is currently in its trial phase.

El tercer volumen de nuestra colección Nuevos Paradigmas está marcado, como no podía ser de otra manera, por los efectos de la COVID-19 y su papel como aceleradora de tendencias que ha hecho emerger nuevas formas de percibir y gestionar situaciones derivadas de la crisis sanitaria. En él abordamos las perspectivas económicas de 2022, la evolución de la desigualdad, las tendencias de consumo, el impacto de los fondos de recuperación europeos y el papel de las democracias en tiempos de pandemia.

We analyse recent developments and the outlook for public debt in the major advanced economies. While the United States, France and Belgium will continue to see an increase in their ratios, Japan and the United Kingdom could stabilise them. In contrast, the euro area periphery shows favourable conditions for reducing its debt, although it will require significant fiscal effort.

As we approach 2026, the global economy is once again demonstrating greater-than-expected resilience to uncertainty and geopolitical noise. However, growth and welfare will depend on how the division between economic blocs, the rise of artificial intelligence and fiscal challenges are managed, in a context of transition and increasing complexity.

The first cohort of baby boomers turns 65 in 2023 and in the coming years this entire generation will retire en masse. In this article, we will assess the state in which the baby boom generation is approaching retirement in Spain, both from a financial perspective and in terms of their emotional state and their health.

We use internal CaixaBank data, duly anonymised, to carry out an exploratory analysis on how consumption patterns change after retirement for the case of Spain. The use of these data allows us to identify individuals’ income, consumption and savings with precision, as well as to identify the moment of retirement.

The pace of growth of the Spanish economy has slowed, as evidenced by the lower GDP growth rate recorded in Q3. The main reason for this is the weakness of the external environment: the euro area has registered a slight decline in economic activity and its three main economies are stagnant. In contrast, the statistics for household consumption in Spain, one of the pillars of the economy, remain strong.

In an attempt to correct these market dysfunctions, there have been several reforms in recent decades, the most recent of which was approved by the government cabinet on 28 December and is being voted on today in Congress. This reform is also one of the milestones committed to with the EU as part of the RTRP, and its implementation is a requirement in order to access the European NGEU funds.

One of the hot economic topics of today is the impact that a tightening of the financial conditions will have on the cost of Spanish public debt. Since the beginning of the year, we have witnessed a rebound in euro area sovereign yields and in risk premiums of the periphery, including that of Spain. Thus, the question arises as to how sensitive the general government’s cost of financing will be to a changing and highly uncertain macro-financial environment.

The beginning of a new economic chapter is marked by the sensation that we may be approaching a turning point in the behaviour of the economy.