Catalonia and Spain at the crossroads: financial and economic aspects

In some large European countries, in recent decades, economic globalization has gone hand in hand with a powerful trend to political decentralization (this has been the case in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain). In Spain, and after years of apparent stability, the relations between Catalonia and Spain are experiencing troubled times. This paper examines particularly the main economic effects of both the staying together and the secession scenarios. Following the introduction, the second section reviews some aspects of the relations between Catalonia and Spain. The third and fourth sections analyse different scenarios with a particular focus on the main issues that the secession scenario raises. The fifth section contains a concluding remark

The role of intergovernmental finance in achieving diversity and cohesion: The case of Spain

The democratic Constitution of 1978 set up a decentralised state in Spain. Since then, the Autonomous Communities (intermediate level of government) have strongly increased their role and currently represent around 25-30% of total public expenditure. Thus, financing autonomous government has become a crucial issue with important financial and political consequences. The present system is mostly based on grants coming from central government, while tax revenue are weak and so it is fiscal responsibility. The financing system can play an important, albeit complementary, role in ensuring cohesion within a decentralised state. On the one hand, achieving a certain level of equalisation in providing public services all over the territory. On the other, permitting that all regions can obtain an appropriate level of self-government. However, it is important to stress that territorial cohesion requires, as previous conditions, a political consensus and the acceptation of a common project among the different regions. Financial problems can become political problems, but rarely political problems can exclusively be solved through financial measures. Hence, we should not demand to the intergovernmental finances what they cannot do

La descentralización de las políticas sociales en el Estado del Bienestar

Este trabajo analiza la problemática que plantea la prestación de las políticas sociales propias del Estado del bienestar en un contexto de federalismo fiscal. Mientras que tanto el Estado del bienestar como los procesos de descentralización han merecido, por separado, una gran atención por parte de la literatura, las implicaciones mutuas de ambas cuestiones han recibido, en cambio, sólo un escaso interés. Sin embargo, la realidad muestra que algunos de los gastos típicos del Estado del bienestar (como la sanidad y la educación) están fuertemente descentralizados. Este trabajo aborda en primer lugar los argumentos a favor y en contra de la descentralización de estas políticas. A continuación se examina el grado de descentralización del gasto en las principales políticas sociales: sanidad, educación y seguridad y servicios sociales. Es importante destacar la confluencia de los distintos niveles de gobierno en la prestación y financiación de estas políticas. En este sentido, el grado de descentralización del gasto no tiene por qué coincidir con el grado de descentralización en la definición de las políticas públicas. Finalmente, se realiza un examen detallado de la problemática que plantea la descentralización de las principales funciones en la experiencia comparada

The choice of banking firm: Are the interest rate a significant criteria?

The objective of the research is to know the factors that in Spain determine the choice of banking organization. The obtained results indicate that the dimension of the network of branches is the reason more valued. In spite of the increasing symmetry of the Spanish banking market, the preferences of the clients of the savings banks and those of the banks are not absolutely coincident, being the proximity - the main reason for election- much more valued by the former than by the latter. The existence of divergences in the preferences has also been detected according to the region and the typology of city of residence.Choice criteria, retail banking, logit multinomial.

The regional allocation of infrastructures investment: The role of equity, efficiency and political factors

This paper analyses the main determinants of the regional allocation of infrastructure investment. The estimated investment equation is derived from a general specification of the government's objective function (Berhman and Craig, Am. Econom. Rev. 77 (1987) 315), which accounts both for the equity-efficiency trade-off and for deviations from this rule that arise because of political factors. The reaction of investment to changes in the regional output provides information about the strength of the equity-efficiency trade-off. The main political factor considered is a measurement of the electoral productivity of funds invested in each region

Algunes reflexions sobre la crisi econòmica a Catalunya i a Espanya

Antoni Castells i Oliveres (Barcelona, 1950) és llicenciat en Ciències Econòmiques per la Universitat de Barcelona, doctor en Economia i catedràtic d'Hisenda Pública de la mateixa universitat. És especialista en temes de federalisme fiscal, hisenda autonòmica i local, economia regional i economia de l'Estat del benestar sobre els quals ha escrit nombrosos estudis i publicacions. Ha treballat en el servei d'estudis de Banca Catalana fins el 1983, ha estat membre de la Sindicatura de Comptes de Catalunya (1984-1989), membre de la part catalana de la Comissió Mixta de Valoracions Estat-Generalitat (1989-1996) i del Tribunal de Comptes Europeu (1994-2000). És secretari d'Economia de la Comissió Executiva del Partit Socialista de Catalunya, formació per la qual va ser diputat al Parlament de Catalunya (1992-1994). Va ser nomenat conseller d'Economia i Finances del Govern de Pasqual Maragall (2003-2006), càrrec que va repetir durant el Govern de José Montilla (2006-2010