With the worst of the crisis allegedly over, Spain is now immersed in a complex reform effort aimed at boosting growth and moving towards economic recovery. To shed light on just what these reforms are and how effective their implementation has been, IESE’s Public-Private Sector Research Center (PPSRC) in conjunction with the savings bank foundation Funcas and consultancy firm Everis has launched the website SpanishReforms.
Divided into six main categories - growth and competitiveness, competition and regulation, labor market, financial system, fiscal policy and public administration, and welfare state - the site is designed not only to explain and contextualize international institutions’ reform recommendations, but also to observe their status and progress.
In addition to providing accurate, up-to-date information, the site also includes the Public-Private Sector Research Center’s own set of recommendations for combating the economic crisis.
During the website presentation, Prof. Xavier Vives, the PPSRC’s academic director, analyzed the most important reforms undertaken in Spain. In his opinion, the reform of the financial system has made significant advances whereas fiscal consolidation has consisted of spending cuts rather than actual reforms. There have been clear and important reforms of the labor market but job creation policies are glaringly absent.
According to Vives, a lot remains to be done. Little has been done to reform the rental market and the first steps in pension reform have been taken while the justice system remains untouched. Education reform is likely to create problems because it’s been pushed through without consensus. There is little positive to be said in regard to regulation and competitiveness and in energy there is still a tariff deficit. As for R&D, we’ve stopped investing and so effectively we’re going backwards.