Fiscal federalism has been one of the main lines of research of the Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) ever since its foundation. Over this time, the IEB has become a reference point in the research into the finances of subcentral government systems both in Spain and abroad. With the experience accumulated over the years, the IEB has now created an observatory in order to promote and support research work in this area and to bring the results to the attention of society at large.

The observatory’s focus of study will be fiscal federalism, both the financing of regional and local governments, and the configuration of their spending policies on different areas such as health, education, and so on. Comparisons with other systems will also be made. The observatory has two main aims: first, to facilitate access to information on the subject such as publications, databases, and conferences, and second, disseminate the materials produced by its members.

The IEB observatory will be directed by the UB professors Núria Bosch and Maite Vilalta. Both these academics follow on in a tradition that was established many years ago by experts such as Alexandre Pedrós and the former minister Antoni Castells. The UB is still the only university in Spain that has a required course on this subject in the economics degree.

The observatory will be financed through the same funding sources as the IEB’s research programmes, as well as resources that may be obtained from interested institutions such as the Catalan government, provincial councils, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, and institutions abroad.