Marbella is the worst Spanish city in economic freedom, why?
Marbella is the worst Spanish city in economic freedom. This is what the Index of Economic Freedom of Spanish Cities (ILECE) says, published every year by the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty, a study that has placed the town in Malaga at number 50 on a list headed by Santa Cruz de Tenerife. .
What is this study based on? processes 800 variablescorresponding to 16 basic indicators, in each of the fifty municipalities with the largest population in the entire country, yielding four partials for the areas of economic performance, size of the workforce, economic interventionism and fiscal pressure in the municipalities.
The list is led by these two Andalusian municipalities, which receive a “poor” rating, with 43.91 points for Marbella and 44.19 for Jerez de la Frontera. Other Andalusian cities such as Granada and Dos Hermanas (Seville) follow with an “insufficient” rating, while Huelva and Seville have “acceptable” economic freedom.
Malaga, a “moderate” rating
Malaga and Córdoba, on the other hand, obtain a “moderate” rating while Almería has been ranked third in this ranking, which places it with “satisfactory” economic freedom.
The conclusions of the study indicate that “political color has little influence on the degree of economic freedom”, although they note in some indicators, such as the tendency to remunicipalize services or the incontinence of spending, contracting or subsidies, “greater interventionism on the part of the political formations of the left”.
The conclusions of the study indicate that “political color has little influence on the degree of economic freedom”
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, on the other hand, there is no connection between the degree of municipal economic freedom and the economic level or the degree of fiscal competitiveness of their 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.” .
Classification of cities
The following table shows the list of cities ordered by score (out of 100) and rating of economic freedom.
Between the first and third place is considered “satisfactory”; from 4 to 32 is “moderate”; from 33 to 41 is “acceptable”; from 42 to 48 it is “insufficient” and the last two are classified as “deficient”.