Spanish Cities Fail Annual Exam on Economic Freedom: Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia Rank Insufficient

The three large Spanish cities, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, fail with a rating of “insufficient” the exam on economic freedom carried out annually by the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty, which places Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Alicante and Almería at the forefront with a “satisfactory” mark. Meanwhile, A Coruña is in 16th place, among those with the best behavior, although behind Vigo, which is in fourth position, about to enter the top-3 of those with satisfactory scores.

Specifically, of the cities analysed, Madrid is in position 44, Valencia in 43, Barcelona in 42, all three with “insufficient”; Seville at 38 with “acceptable” and Zaragoza at 28 and Malaga at 23 with “moderate”.

The Index of Economic Freedom of Spanish Cities (ILECE) processes 800 variables, corresponding to 16 basic indicators, in each of the municipalities with the largest population in the entire country, yielding four partials for the areas of economic performance, magnitude of the workforce , economic interventionism and municipal fiscal pressure.

Among its conclusions, the study indicates that “political color has little influence on the degree of economic freedom”, although it notes in some indicators, such as the tendency to remunicipalize services or the incontinence of spending, contracting or subsidies, “greater interventionism by the political formations of the left”.

It also confirms that in 2023 the improvement trend of previous years is maintained, that the differential between the best and worst rated cities is reduced, that the size of cities presents a “negative correlation” with their degree of economic freedom and that, in Instead, there is no connection between the degree of municipal economic freedom and the economic level or degree of fiscal competitiveness of your community.

The general secretary of this liberal foundation and co-author of the study, Juan Pina, considers that “municipal public policies have an ever-greater effect on the general economic freedom of companies and individuals, attracting or expelling both individual professionals and economic activity.” .

The following table contains the list of cities ordered by their rating of economic freedom: