Capitalisation of Spanish corporations since the financial crisis
Firm capitalisation
Fecha: mayo 2024
Vicente Salas Fumás
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 13 N.º3 (May 2024)
An analysis of the stock of fixed capital of Spain’s non-financial corporations from 2011 to 2023 reveals the persistence of a post-pandemic time lag in the recovery of corporate investment. The results point to two contributing factors: (i) the trend in the relative costs of capital and labour, unfavourable for the accumulation of capital since 2021; and (ii) the relationship between the return on and user cost of capital. Relative input prices have favoured more labour-intensive production, while the proximity of returns to costs of capital have provided an incentive to invest only the minimum needed to replenish the capital consumed. A recovery in investment will require a recovery in returns to pre-pandemic levels and a drop in the user cost of capital as inflation eases, rebalancing the relative costs of capital and labour in the process.