Reforming Responsibility in Spain: Heavy Lifting Ahead

Confidence indicators in Spain are at an all-time low. The reason is not so much the economic crisis as the country’s failure to introduce structural reform. The author discusses two partly complementary hypotheses, identifying the problem as one either of institutions or of values. The institutional hypothesis suggests that the political system fails to translate citizens’ preferences into effective reform. According to the values hypothesis, many citizens reject any reform that will require them to work harder or consume less. Based on the reforms carried out over the last half-century and the characteristics of Spain’s most successful companies and individuals, the author argues that what is needed to rebuild confidence and overcome the economic crisis is an injection of competition and responsibility.