Bank of Spain creates a Global Trends and Institutions Analysis Office as governor links institutional quality to growth

In a speech at the VI Observatorio de las Finanzas and the I Observatorio del Sector Asegurador, Bank of Spain Governor José Luis Escrivá set out the central bank’s view that institutional quality is a key determinant of economic growth and social well-being in Spain, and announced the creation of a new Global Trends and Institutions Analysis Office to reinforce the Bank’s analytical capacity on institutional determinants. The remarks pointed to a strong positive relationship between government effectiveness and GDP per capita in Europe, with government effectiveness explaining around two-thirds of the variability in per capita income, while finding no correlation between government effectiveness and the size of government as measured by spending-to-GDP. The speech argued that performance depends not only on the aggregate institutional framework but also on how specific organisations are governed and managed, and highlighted three recurring governance principles: management autonomy with administrative coordination, a long-term orientation with continuous assessment, and meritocracy with openness to talent. Illustrative Spanish “islands of excellence” included the National Transplant Organization (Spain at 53.9 donors per million population), the Catalan scientific ecosystem (26.3% of publications in the top 10% of journals, with ICREA reporting one-third of papers among the top 10% most cited, 25% of researchers holding an active European Research Council grant and 40% non-nationals), and Teatro Real (private funding rising to 65.2% of the budget in 2024 from 47.4% in 2009).