Key topics

What this report does This report assesses the state of equity, or equality of opportunity, in education in Spain and its autonomous communities, based on an original and detailed analysis of the PISA 2025 microdata and a comparison with the 2022 data. Describing and understanding educational equity in depth is highly relevant for a country’s […]

This report analyses the state of Shadow Education (SE) in Spain using the latest available wave of the National Statistics Institute’s (INE) Household Education Expenditure Survey (EGHE 2023/24) and compares it with the immediately preceding available wave (2019/20), analysed in detail in the EsadeEcPol report by Moreno and Martínez (2023). We find that aggregate spending […]

Supported by Google ↓ Download the full report A new wave of AI-based tools is arriving on the heels of two decades of ICT in Spanish classrooms. Access, regulation, and investment are largely in place; whether this wave translates into improved learning depends on robust, evidence-based implementation. Basic evidence on what would work Lessons learned […]

En este artículo evaluamos el impacto de los incentivos generados para la vacunación por el pasaporte COVID para acceder a espacios públicos en Francia, Alemania e Italia.

Ómicron supone un paso crucial en la conversión de pandemia a endemia: nos confirma que el SARS-CoV-2 es un virus con el que probablemente conviviremos durante un largo tiempo.

¿Cómo queda la foto de las desigualdades causadas por la pandemia, un año y medio después de la eclosión global del virus?

With the support of Ingeus ↓ Download the full report The Spanish labour market continues to show significant structural imbalances: high unemployment rates —overall, youth and long-term— represent a fundamental challenge. This challenge is more acute in autonomous communities with high unemployment and low labour force participation. In addition, certain groups (such as people with […]

In collaboration with Implement Consulting Group · With the support of Google ↓ Download the report  AI offers great potential to improve the delivery of public services while addressing particularly pressing challenges in the current Spanish context, such as reducing bureaucratic burdens and improving interactions with citizens. In a context like the current one, with […]

This paper evaluates the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on productivity and work inequality. I run a Randomized Controlled Trial in a university debating competition, in which I randomly assign GenAI support to students to prepare a series of one-on-one debates. This novel setting allows me to measure productivity improvements in a task involving […]

Adapting homes to use the energy consumed by the household that lives in them as efficiently as possible is one of the factors that most determines their living conditions, and its importance keeps growing: rising energy prices have increased the cost of living in an inefficient home, and climate change is intensifying thermal stress, above […]

This report examines Spain’s position in the green economy, analysing its productive capabilities, the competitiveness of its exports and its diversification potential. To do so, it draws on R&D investment data and on the Green Transition Navigator to identify opportunities for Spain to thrive in green export markets amid the global energy transition. Spanish R&D […]

Decarbonization, inevitable in the current context, presents an opportunity to develop technologies that drive the energy transition. While Spain has experienced a decline in its industrial sector, the shift to a decarbonized economy opens a window to reverse this trend. The goal is not just reindustrialization but doing so in high-value-added sectors that promote quality […]

Spain has made significant progress in reducing the gender pay gap between 2010 and 2022, although substantial disparities remain. Our analysis of Spanish labor market data indicates a clear downward trend in the wage gap between men and women, alongside evidence that structural barriers continue to impede equality. The main findings are: Reduction of the […]

In recent years, paternity leave permits in Spain haves been progressively extended until to becominge the most generous ones in the OECD. Since 2021, paternity leave in Spain is 16 weeks, matching the length of maternity leave. This level has been achieved through successive reforms that have increased the length of leave from 2 weeks […]

This study proposes the most in-depth and detailed analysis of gender inequality in STEM fields in Spain to date. Distinctively, we focus on areas with a significant emphasis on mathematics, where the most pronounced gaps occur; we cover everything from basic education, thanks to the latest PISA results, to the professional career, for which we […]

Population ageing poses one of the most significant fiscal challenges Spain will face over the coming decades. This policy brief applies the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) methodology to quantify how the taxes paid and public benefits received are distributed across the life cycle in Spain in 2024. The fiscal life cycle: →   A representative individual […]

With the execution deadline of August 2026 already in sight, EsadeEcPol presents the update of its NextGenEU Tracker with data as of 12 March 2026. The report examines a programme entering its final sprint: progress is substantial, but the gap between called and awarded funds, fund concentration, and administrative bottlenecks pose critical challenges in the […]

→ Geoeconomic tensions have spurred diversification strategies such as China+1, nearshoring, and friendshoring, reshaping value chains to reduce concentration risks in China. → Although Chinese exports are rerouted through third countries (Mexico, Vietnam), recent U.S. “Liberation Day” tariffs curb these tactics, yet six in ten companies have already altered their logistics routes in 2025. → […]

Martin Sandbu is the European economic commentator for the Financial Times. In this conversation, Toni Roldán (director of EsadeEcPol) discusses with him the key economic challenges facing Western market economies and how they are deeply entrenched with the current wave of populist elections across democracies. Roldán and Sandbu build on Sandbu’s book, The Economics of […]

Last Tuesday, November 28th, we talked about our book “Un País Posible: Manual de Reformas Políticamente Viables” (Un País Posible: A Handbook of Politically Viable Reforms) thanks to the invitation of the Harvard Kennedy School Spain Alumni Network. The conversation counted with the interventions of Toni Roldán, Miguel Almunia, Marta Suárez-Varela and Antonio Cabrales and […]

Spain has practically the same real per capita income as 15 years ago, while other countries around us are much richer than they were then. This means that over the last eighteen years we have not improved our average standard of living. We are therefore on the road to two lost decades. There are many […]

In this article, originally published in the Economic and Financial Report released in March 2025 with the support of Banco Sabadell, Jordi Fabregat—professor at Esade and board member of the Esade Alumni Real Estate Club—explores how models such as senior living or student residences could alleviate pressure on the conventional rental market. These alternatives respond […]

In this article, originally published in the Economic and Financial Report we issued in March 2025 with the support of Banco Sabadell, economist and TecnoCampus professor Josep Maria Raya conducts an in-depth analysis of the rental market, highlighting that: Seasonal rentals and room rentals are increasing, attracting supply away from long-term rentals. Regulatory uncertainty and […]

In this article originally published in the *Informe Económico y Financiero* that we released in March 2025 with the support of Banco Sabadell, Professor Joan Monràs reviews the four forces that have converged to push up housing demand: less construction, credit regulation after the crisis, the tourism boom, and the pandemic. This shock puts pressure […]