Economic profits and investment dynamics in Spanish non-financial corporations
Corporate profits
Fecha: enero 2026
Vicente Salas Fumás
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 15 N.º1 (January 2026)
Spanish non-financial corporations generated modest economic profits averaging 3% of output over 2000–2024, though profits fell near zero during the 2009–2013 crisis and remained weak after the pandemic. Corporate investment mirrored these economic profits, rising when returns exceeded capital costs and stalling when profits were insufficient, even as output and employment recovered. Over the period examined, firms shifted from buying intermediate goods toward internal production, increasing the share of value added and producing more capital-intensive goods. This structural shift amplified the lag between growth in output and employment and the pace of investment, as firms prioritized profitability over rapid expansion of capacity. Accounting profits masked these dynamics, offering a misleading signal of incentives to invest. The patterns suggest that slow investment in recent years reflects rational adjustments to economic returns rather than widespread financial constraints, highlightingthe importance of measuring opportunity costs alongside traditional profit metrics.