page_title: Economy of Madrid
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Madrid / Economic history / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Español: El Banco de España, agentes de bolsa haciendo operaciones para el empréstito. Fotografía de Christian Franzen.
context_page_description: After it became the capital of Spain in the 16th century, Madrid was more a centre of consumption than of production or trade. Economic activity was largely devoted to supplying the city's own rapidly growing population, including the royal household and national government, such trades as banking and publishing.
  A large industrial sector did not develop until the 20th century, but thereafter industry greatly expanded and diversified, making Madrid the second industrial city in Spain. However, the economy of the city is now becoming more and more dominated by the service sector.
context_section_description: The major expansion of the city's industry occurred during the 20th century, mostly in the period following the Spanish Civil War,, reaching levels of industrialization found in other major European cities. The economic output of the city shifted to chemicals, metallurgy, and high-technology production including precision engineering, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. Many national and multinational companies set up headquarters in the city, encouraged by its function as the center of government. At the same time, workers’ commissions (Comisiones Obreras), although illegal under the legislation of the Franco period, were set up in the factories that now surrounded the city.
  Since the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s, despite efforts to decentralize the administration, the city has continued to expand. Its economy is now among the most dynamic and diverse in the European Union.
caption: Stockbrokers in Madrid (c. 1902)
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