On 27 November 2013, the Rafael del Pino Foundation and the Think Tank Civismo organised the event "Economic freedom in Spain 2013: why do some regions fail?" on the occasion of the presentation of the book by Francisco Cabrillo, Rocío Albert, Rogelio Biazzi and Julio Pomés.
The event was attended by: Ignacio González, President of the Community of Madrid, Carlos Rodríguez Braun, Professor of History of Economic Thought at the Complutense University of Madrid and Francisco Cabrillo, Professor of Applied Economics at the Complutense University of Madrid and Director General of the Cardenal Cisneros University College.
Economic Freedom of Spain 2013 highlights the worrying situation in which some Autonomous Communities find themselves as a result of the economic crisis. But not all regions have behaved in the same way and the data indicate that different policies have had different effects. This book shows that prosperity comes hand in hand with economic freedom. Excessive regulation is an obstacle that hinders production, investment and consumption activities. The increase in public spending, public debt and, in short, the weight of the public sector, condition the participation of the private sector in the economy. What international indices show for nations is perfectly applicable to regions as well.
The Index of Economic Freedom of the Autonomous Communities presented in this book is a very useful tool, not only to understand what is happening in Spain, but also to guide the decisions of regional governments towards the design of efficient policies that will help to exit the crisis and lay the foundations for solid growth in the future.
