Is Squatting a Good Business for the Security Industry? A Case Analysis from Spain

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relation between the rise of the squatter movement in Spain and the evolution of firms involved into the security and surveillance business. We hypothesize that the upsurge of this phenomenon might benefit the evolution of these companies. Using Google searches to measure the citizens’ attention and concerns to the squatter movement, we analyze their impact on the evolution of the unique security company listed in the Spanish stock market: Prosegur. The empirical analysis points out to a positive and significant relationship, which is robust to the inclusion of other market variables. Moreover, we find out that this relationship disappears or turns negative for other types of firms and for the stock market in general, suggesting that our measure of attention to the squatter movement might actually be a proxy for an impairment of the rule of law in Spain.