Sartre pointed out: “What each one of us is, at each moment of his life, is the sum of his previous choices. Man is what he decides to be ”. I see no reason to believe that this quote cannot be extrapolated to other realities beyond the existential reflections of this thinker. These words invite us not to forget the different opportunities to decide that are presented to us this year, more specifically those referring to municipal, regional and national elections.
Monitoring the economy helps us to understand the situation of several of the pillars that support our model. In a panorama like that of this 2023, in which we will have to make decisions that will define the coming years in a prominent way, it is essential to know the starting point.
For example, the prospects for growth this year are compromised by global uncertainty, despite recent upward updates to various forecasts, which estimate a very similar evolution of GDP –over 1.5%– for Catalonia and Spain as a whole. , as historically has been demonstrated. The management of the deficit and the debt also becomes a capital aspect, since the interests that will have to be paid can force us to make necessary and painful adjustments in a matter of a very short time, starting from a situation of excessive complacency like the present one, in in which an insidious structural deficit persists. And with respect to the labor market, we have high and persistent unemployment rates that hinder our potential growth and hinder a better redistribution of income among the different agents.
On the other hand, although directly related to all of the above, we would need the need to define, very clearly and precisely, the regional financing model we want to be determinedly incorporated into the political agenda, because without this specificity -and an institutional fit balanced– it will be impossible for the administrations to manage the growing needs of society, and we will go round and round in vacuous disquisitions that will only generate tensions.
But it would still be convenient to expand this analysis in order to try to glimpse where we want to go in the coming years. I understand that it would be desirable to internalize the concept of efficiency – that is, the ability to achieve the desired results with the minimum possible resources – as a maxim for management, especially public affairs, in a context in which their participation in our economy is progressively increases. To the extent that it continues to grow, its weight will also grow and its supervision and control mechanisms should also do so. Respect for what is shared says a lot about its managers, but it says more about its citizens. Let’s assume this 2023 with full awareness of the decisions we are going to make and the impact they will have.
