Measuring Regulatory Intensity by the Spanish Regions (1978-2009)

Abstract

This paper constructs several objective indicators of regulatory intensity in the context of the Spanish decentralization since 1978. Our aim is to develop a quantitative measure of the levels of regulatory intensity set by different regions in Spain. The dynamic nature of the decentralization process requires that we take into account the initial institutional framework for decentralization and the successive transfers of powers to the regions. As a result, we obtain a series of variables that measure regulatory intensity across Spanish regions in the period 1978-2009.

Sector-level economic effects of regulatory complexity: evidence from Spain

“…6 The regulatory indicators studied in this article operationalize the rst perspective -measuring the volume of regulation-, which is currently the most developed in the literature (with examples for the United States, Australia or Spain) and is easily quanti able (Kirchner 2012, Dawson and Seater 2013, Mora-Sanguinetti and Soler 2022) 7 . For the Spanish case speci cally, see also the articles by Econlaw Strategic Consulting (2009), Marcos et al (2010) and Mora-Sanguinetti (2019), who worked on the analysis of regional regulation.…”

“…The rst empirical analyses with these disaggregated characteristics are thus recent and can be found for the U.S. (Dawson and Seater, 2013;McLaughlin et al, 2019) apart from earlier suggestions made by Friedman (2004). In the case of Spain, the construction of quantitative indicators of regulation has also been more recent (Marcos et al, 2010;Econlaw Strategic Consulting, 2009; Mora-Sanguinetti, 2019).…”

The economic impact of legislative complexity and corruption: A cross‐country analysis

“…For Spain, there was employed two different measure of legislative complexity. Marcos et al (2010) consider the amount of laws pages, while Mora‐Sanguinetti and Pérez‐Valls (2020) undertake the number of laws and regulations.…”

“…Di Vita (2018Vita ( , 2010 in a country with a multi-level political framework uses the approach of negative coordination externalities among four sources of laws, to build a simple indicator of legislative complexity. In Spain, the legislative complexity was measured by Marcos, Santaló, and Sánchez-Graells (2010) page of laws (see also Friedman, 2004), and by Mora-Sanguinetti and Pérez-Valls (2020) by means of the aggregate of laws and regulation. Dawson and Seater (2013) in United States address the problem of legislative complexity using the federal level of laws.…”

The heterogenous effects of regulatory complexity: Evidence from more than 200k Spanish norms

“…The rst empirical analyses with disaggregated characteristics are recent and can be found for the U.S. (Dawson and Seater, 2013;McLaughlin et al, 2019) without prejudice to the previous suggestions of Friedman (2004). In the case of Spain, the construction of quantitative indicators of regulation has also been very recent (Marcos et al, 2010;Econlaw Strategic Consulting, 2009;Mora-Sanguinetti, 2019).…”