Most current research on the implications of the crisis in Southern Europe has focused on the nation-state. However, we still do not know much about how, why and with what success regional governments have undertaken different types of costly and unpopular, measures and reforms of the regional public sectors and welfare systems with the aim to address the situation of aggravated austerity their treasuries are currently experiencing. This paper seeks to examine the Spanish Autonomous Communities (AC) governments’ strategies to respond to the financial crisis, through different combinations of austerity measures and policy and administrative reform, in order to achieve fiscal consolidation since the onset of the current crisis. Using an analytical framework based on the comparative study of fiscal adjustment and welfare reforms determinants, the paper analyzes the content, scope and success of regional austerity measures and reforms.
