The Rafael del Pino Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and FAES Foundation are organising, on 10 May 2017 at 1pm, the dialogue "Economic Freedom in the World" on the occasion of the presentation of the "2017 Index of Economic Freedom". James M. Roberts and Daniel Lacalle will speak at the event.
Daniel Lacalle holds a PhD in Economics and a degree in Economics and Business Administration, a CIIA (Certified International Investment Analyst), a Master's degree in Economic Research (UCV) and a postgraduate degree (PDD) from IESE (University of Navarra). His career in portfolio management and investment began in the United States and continued in London, (at Citadel and Ecofin Limited) covering equities, fixed income, private equity and commodities. In addition to being an investment fund manager, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Rafael del Pino Foundation, Commissioner of the Community of Madrid in London and a lecturer at Instituto de Empresa (IE), Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB) and UNED. In 2016 he was named as one of the Top 20 most influential economists according to the Richtopia ranking and has been voted for five consecutive years in the Top 3 of the best managers of the Extel Survey, the Thomson Reuters ranking, in the categories General Strategy, Oil and Electric Utilities. Daniel Lacalle is the author of several books translated into English, Chinese and Portuguese.
James M. Roberts is a Research Fellow in Economic Freedom and Growth at the Heritage Foundation. As the Heritage Foundation's leading expert on economic freedom and growth, he produces the Index of Economic Freedom. An influential analysis of the economic climate of countries around the world, the Index is co-published by Heritage and the Wall Street Journal. Roberts also studies economic and political issues in Latin America and Europe, contributing to public policy debate on topics ranging from development advice and nation building to corporate social responsibility and global economic governance The Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2007, Roberts served at the State Department for 25 years. During that period he worked at the American Embassies in Mexico, Portugal, France, Panama and Haiti. He has also worked on a wide range of international trade issues and helped coordinate major U.S. aid programmes, including efforts to reform Eastern European economies and rebuild Iraq.
Summary:
On 10 May 2017, the presentation of the "Index of Economic Freedom 2017", produced by the Heritage Foundation and edited in Spain by FAES Foundation, took place at the Rafael del Pino Foundation. The event began with a speech by José María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain and president of FAES, who pointed out that in developed societies there is a balance between individual and collective responsibility. These societies have institutions that generate a system of incentives that promote human development and in which the free market acts as a counterweight to political power. Such a market economy must be accompanied by an education system that promotes equality of opportunity and is based on educational excellence; a strong state that ensures equality of opportunity, avoids market failures and leads reforms; and freedom to trade internationally. Economic freedom is not an ethereal, utopian concept - quite the opposite. In fact, there is a direct correlation between freedom and prosperity, as shown by the fact that globalisation has lifted 700 million people out of absolute poverty. In Spain, the history of liberalising reforms has always been a success story. One of the main causes of the crisis lies in the backward steps in this direction that were taken from 2004 onwards. It is therefore necessary to have an agenda to maintain the reforms that have been carried out and to launch ambitious reforms in the future. Finally, he warned that freedom is always exposed to the risk of regression. Populism must therefore lose ground at the ballot box, in party programmes and in public opinion. This was followed by James M. Roberts, Research Fellow in Economic Freedom and Growth at the Heritage Foundation, who pointed out that economic freedom in the world has experienced a certain setback after the financial crisis due to the increase in public spending and the corruption that the state has created through its intervention in the markets. The problem, as the experience of the Obama presidency shows, is that when public spending programmes are created it is very difficult to withdraw them, even if they have been inefficient. For Europe, the message is that the welfare state is not sustainable. Roberts explained that the index of economic freedom has four components: Rule of Law, size of government, regulatory efficiency and open markets. He pointed out that economic freedom brings greater prosperity and is key to environmental sustainability and innovation, human development and social progress. As far as Spain is concerned, he pointed out that our country is moderately free, with a score slightly above the world average, which places it in 69th place, but below the European average, in line with the countries of the South. The trend in recent years has been one of some decline. The main problems centre on the functioning of the judicial system and the size of government, as well as regulatory inefficiency as a result of the problems generated by the regulations of the 17 autonomous regions. The strengths lie in open markets and monetary stability.
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