Research Areas

For several decades now, the Cañada-Blanch Foundation, the Ivie and the London School of Economics (LSE) have been promoting rigorous economic analyses on significant economic and social problems. These three institutions consider that Europe, Spain and Valencia are at a socioeconomic crossroads full of uncertainties, and that reflection and action proposals are needed. For this reason, in 2014 they decided to create the Cañada Blanch Forum, with the support of Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE) and Bankia. This project prepares analysis and forecast documents, and organizes seminars in which the results are presented, discussed and disseminated. Its aim is to continue during the coming years and is open to the participation of other social, economic and research institutions, and each year it will focus on the issues considered crucial for the future of the Valencian Community, on the basis of a rigorous approach to problems and with emphasis on medium and long-term prospects and proposals for action.

On this basis and with the occasion of the 2014 Canada Blanch Forum, a study was carried out at the Ivie which focuses on the central question of the Forum: ‘How can the Valencian economy compete in the European scenario?’  To answer this question, the background document examines the following factors: the basic features of the global and European economic scenario; the trajectory followed by the Spanish economy over the last two decades, and the causes and consequences of its unsatisfactory adaptation to the current competitive and international stage; why the crisis has hit the Valencian Community hardest and the obstacles it must overcome to boost its recovery; and the engines which can sustain the progress of a new stage of growth over the next decade and allow this region to be competitive against more advanced economies. The report ends with the main conclusions of this diagnosis and the proposals for action which can help the Valencian Community to improve competitiveness and return to growth in a sustainable manner.