Publications

In mid-2023, at the government's initiative and with the technical support of the Tax Agency and the Bank of Spain, the Business Margins Observatory (OME) was created to monitor economic activity related to the evolution of corporate profits in Spain. This text presents an initial assessment of the brief history of the OME and offers some methodological proposals aimed at improving its ability to fulfill its foundational objectives. It is particularly recommended that the OME explains the observed differences in the evolution of profit margins calculated by aggregating individual company margins versus those calculated using aggregated National Accounts data. Additionally, the OME should publish a document that explicitly outlines the theoretical framework for price and margin formation based on the static and dynamic aspects of market competition, which would serve as a basis for interpreting and assessing the published data.