Spain’s crisis emerged from regional savings banks, not its largest internationalized banks
Evidence
Rather than having three big banks that dominate all domestic lending, as in the Irish case, Spain’s largest banks are internationalized and are therefore somewhat hedged against domestic turbulence. In Spain the real problem, as became plain in the spring of 2012, lay in the regional savings banks: the cajas de ahorros. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 185
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces the cajas de ahorros — regional savings banks — a distinct institutional form whose role in the Spanish crisis Blyth will elaborate.
- XREF: connects to: Ireland and Spain’s crises stemmed from bank real-estate lending, not fiscal profligacy — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 181; Spain’s housing bubble was smaller than Ireland’s but far more consequential — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 187; The European debt crisis resulted from banking losses, not sovereign overspending — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 40 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Regional Spanish savings banks made nearly half of all domestic loans
#expands(0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 189 - European fiscal crises were consequences of private banking crises, not their cause
#corroborates(0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 205 - The European debt crisis resulted from banking losses, not sovereign overspending
#corroborates(0.78) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 40 - European banking crisis was mostly private-sector exposure, not sovereign over-spending
#corroborates(0.78) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 240 - Unregulated banks, not subprime borrowers, drove the global financial crisis.
#corroborates(0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1521 - The sovereign debt crisis is a transmuted and camouflaged banking crisis
#corroborates(0.75) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 35