Since 2014 the Spanish economy has recovered positive GDP growth, and the country has been growing well above the Eurozone average. This recovery has sparked an academic and political debate concerning the role that structural reforms, prescribed by the 'Troika', have played in peripheral Europe. For certain scholars and institutions, these structural reforms have allowed the market, through greater wage flexibility, to make the necessary adjustments to restore economic growth, resulting in a 'healthy' economic recovery. But, to what extent is this mainstream narrative solidly backed up by the empirical evidence? Can Spain be held up as an international example of the success of these reforms? The aim of this paper is to shed light on this debate. We consider that labor market reforms and wage devaluation policy are not the drivers of economic recovery. Instead, we offer an alternative explanation for recovery based on the theory of demand-led growth.

中文翻译：

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三驾马车之外的外围欧洲：评估结构性改革在推动西班牙复苏方面的“成功”

自 2014 年以来，西班牙经济恢复了国内生产总值的正增长，该国的增长远高于欧元区平均水平。这种复苏引发了一场学术和政治辩论，讨论由“三驾马车”规定的结构性改革在欧洲周边地区发挥的作用。对于某些学者和机构而言，这些结构性改革使市场能够通过更大的工资灵活性进行必要的调整以恢复经济增长，从而实现“健康”的经济复苏。但是，这种主流叙事在多大程度上得到了经验证据的有力支持？西班牙能否成为这些改革成功的国际典范？本文的目的是阐明这场辩论。我们认为劳动力市场改革和工资贬值政策不是经济复苏的驱动力。相反，我们基于需求拉动增长的理论为复苏提供了另一种解释。