La pequeÒa y mediana empresa en la edad de oro de la economÌa espaÒola: estado de la cuestiÛn

The article is about the evolution of small and medium-sized firms in the period of the so called ìdesarrollismoî (1959-1975). We analyze the growth of these firms comparing the process to that of big Spanish firms in the same period. The data has been obtained from the information existent at the Instituto Nacional de EstadÌstica about all the industrial sectors. One of the most interesting conclusions is related to the data from the INE about small and medium-sized firms, as it does not seem to agree with classical economic theory that considers big firms to be more efficient. The data sheds light on this matter very clearly. However, there still remain many aspects which are difficult to quantify, such as the impact of different industrial policies, the effects of tariffs and the quantification of the effects of regulations throughout all this period. KEY Classification-JEL: N64, N84, O1, O14