DOCSLIB.ORG

Housing Bubbles, Offshore Assets and Wealth Inequality in Spain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Housing Bubbles, Offshore Assets and Wealth Inequality in Spain WID.world WORKING PAPER SERIES N° 2017/19 Housing Bubbles, Offshore Assets and Wealth Inequality in Spain Clara Martínez Toledano December 2017 1 Preliminary version Housing Bubbles, Offshore Assets and Wealth Inequality in Spain∗ Clara Martínez-Toledanoy Paris School of Economics December 2017 Abstract This paper combines different sources (tax records, national accounts, wealth surveys) and the capitalization method in order to deliver consistent, unified wealth distribution series for Spain over the 1984-2013 period, with detailed breakdowns by age over the 1999-2013 sub- period. Wealth concentration has been quite stable over this period for the middle 40% and bottom 50%, with shares ranging between 5-10% and 30-40%. Since the end of the nineties Spain has experienced a moderate rise in wealth inequality, with significant fluctuations due to asset price movements. Housing concentration rose during the years prior to the burst of the bubble, due to the larger increase in secondary dwelling acquisitions (quantity effect) by upper wealth groups, and decreased afterwards. The housing bubble had, however, a neu- tral impact on wealth inequality. Rich individuals substituted financial for housing assets during the boom, and compensated for the decrease in real estate prices during the bust by selling some of their dwellings and accumulating more financial assets. Even though housing reduces the levels of wealth inequality over the period, the bulk in secondary residence, to- gether with offshore assets, large capital gains and different rates of return and savings rates across groups have contributed to keeping the same high levels of wealth concentration of the 1980s in the late 2000s. Keywords: Wealth Inequality, Housing, Offshore Assets, Spain JEL Classification: D3, N3, R2 ∗I want to specially thank Facundo Alvaredo and Thomas Piketty for their constant and excellent supervi- sion. I am also very grateful to Miguel Artola, Cristina Barceló, Olympia Bover, Paul Dutronc, Luis Estévez, Gabrielle Fack, Bertrand Garbinti, Jonathan Goupille, José Montalbán, Jorge Onrubia, Daniel Waldenström and Gabriel Zucman for their helpful comments, as well as participants at the 5th Conference on Household Finance and Consumption held at the ECB, the 2016 Spring Meeting of Young Economists in Lisbon, the LAGV 2016 International Conference in Public Economics in Aix-en-Provence and seminars at Paris School of Economics and Bank of Spain. I acknowledge financial support from Fundación Ramón Areces and Bank of Spain at different stages of the project. [email protected] 1 Introduction Both the evolution and determinants of wealth inequality are currently at the center of the academic and political sphere. This is largely due to the debate generated by Thomas Piketty’s prominent book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty(2014)), in which he warns that the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth threatens to generate extreme inequalities. Moreover, he also emphasizes the importance of analyzing empirically the historical evolution of wealth distributions. Research on wealth inequality has, however, a long tradition which dates back to the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, in which a number of authors started to study wealth among the living using mainly French and British inheritance data.1 Nonetheless, it is only after the first half of the 20th century that academics started to construct long run homogeneous historical series on top wealth shares (Lampman (1962) for the US, Atkinson and Harrison(1978) for the UK, Piketty et al.(2006) for France and Roine and Waldenström(2009) for Sweden). There exist five main methods and/or sources to analyze wealth inequality. The first is the estate multiplier method, that provides a snapshot of the wealth distribution at the time of death using estate tax records data. The main difficulty is how to generalize from decedents to the full population. The second possible approach is to use surveys of household finances. Contrary to the estate multiplier method, one advantage of using survey data is that it allows to characterize the middle and bottom of the wealth distribution. Nevertheless, even though most of these surveys oversample wealthy households, concentration at the top tends to be underestimated because of misreporting or top coding. The third available source are wealth tax returns. Wealth tax data cover very well the top of the distribution, but three main limitations remain. First, there are very few countries in the world which have a wealth tax (i.e. Spain, France, Norway, Uruguay, etc.). Second, only very wealthy individuals are subject to the tax, making it impossible to analyze the middle and bottom of the distribution. Third, many assets are exempted from this tax, so that it is not possible to have a whole picture of the wealth distribution. The fourth is the capitalization method, which consists of applying a capitalization factor to the capital income distribution to arrive to the wealth distribution. The main advantages of the capitalization technique are that it is based on income data, which are much easier to obtain than wealth data, and that the top is very well covered. The main limitation is, as in the case of the wealth tax, that there are also some assets whose generated income is not subject to the tax. Finally, one 1See Piketty(2011) for the main references in this literature. 2 can also analyze the upper part of the distribution using lists of high-wealth individuals, such as the annual Forbes 400 list. The drawback in this case is that named lists are limited to a very small group of top wealth-holders and have non-systematic coverage. Despite the immense literature on the analysis of wealth distributions, two important gaps remain. First, there is still no consensus on the method of analysis that should be adopted, since there are conflicting results depending on which of the techniques or sources are used. For instance, Saez and Zucman(2016) find that wealth considerably increased at the top 0.1% in the US over the last two decades using the income capitalization method, contrary to the results obtained by Kopczuk and Saez(2004) using the estate multiplier method. Second, due to data limitations, empirical evidence on the determinants of wealth concentration is still scarce. There is some evidence that the surge in top incomes and offshore wealth (Saez and Zucman(2016), Alstadsæter et al.(2017)), and the increase in saving and rates of return inequality (Garbinti et al.(2017), Saez and Zucman(2016)) have pushed toward wealth concentration in the last two decades. However, it is still unclear which are the distributional effects of specific economic phenomena, such as housing bubbles. The aim of this research is to analyze wealth inequality in Spain using a mixed survey- capitalization method from 1984 up to 2013, with a particular focus on the years of the housing boom and bust. By analyzing Spain I will contribute to the literature of wealth inequality in five ways. First, Spain experienced a unprecedented increase in aggregate wealth due to a boom in housing between 2000 and 2008. Hence, it is interesting to analyze the distributional effects of this economic phenomenon which have not been deeply studied so far. Second, Spain has high-quality personal income tax micro-files with detailed income for each tax unit and income category over the period 1984-2013, as well as publicly available administrative aggregate data on personal wealth held by Spanish residents abroad. Thus, they allow to provide a careful estimation of the evolution and composition of Spanish wealth shares from bottom to the top, with breakdowns by age for the 1999-2013 sub-period and a correction for offshore assets. To my knowledge, the few studies that have analyzed wealth concentration in Spain using administrative data have only focused on the top 1%, have never corrected for offshore assets, and survey data (Survey of Household Finances, Bank of Spain) are only available for four waves since 2002. Third, I go one step forward previous distributional studies and further decompose wealth accumulation by asset type. This new asset-specific decomposition allows me to quantify not only the relative importance of each channel (income, saving rate and rate of return inequality), but also the role 3 played by each asset to explain the channels that drive the observed dynamics of the distribution of wealth. Fourth, using the steady-state formula developed by Garbinti et al.(2017) I carry simulations to better understand which are the key forces (unequal labor incomes, unequal rates of return and/or unequal saving rates) behind long term wealth inequality dynamics in Spain. Fifth, Spain is one of the few countries in the world that has a wealth tax and for which micro- files from wealth tax records are available. Thus, from the methodological point of view, it is interesting to test the capitalization method by first comparing the wealth shares using the income capitalization method with the shares using wealth tax returns and by second calculating the distribution of the rates of return. The starting point of the mixed capitalization-survey approach used in this work involves the application of a capitalization factor to the distribution of capital income to arrive to an estimate of the wealth distribution. Capitalization factors are computed for each asset in such a way as to map the total flow of taxable income to total wealth recorded in Financial and Non-financial accounts. When combining taxable incomes and aggregate capitalization factors, it is assumed that within each asset class capitalization factors are the same for each individual. By using this methodology, I am able to obtain wealth distribution series consistent with official financial and non-financial household accounts. In Spain, as in most of countries, not all assets generate taxable income.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Great Recession and Disability in Spain
    Great Recession and Disability in Spain Sergi Jiménez-Martín Arnau Juanmartí Mestres Judit Vall CAstelló April 2016 Barcelona GSE Working Paper Series Working Paper nº 896 Great Recession and Disability in Spain1 Sergi Jiménez-Martín2 Arnau Juanmarti Mestres3 Judit Vall Castelló4 Abstract In this paper we evaluate the impact of the business cycle on participation in the Disability Insurance (DI) program in Spain in the context of the Great Recession, which has been particularly strong in this country. We follow two approaches. First, we use regional administrative data to estimate the effect of the regional unemployment rate on the number of applications, denials and allowances to the DI rolls. Second, we use longitudinal panel data to estimate the effect of the business cycle on transitions from different labor market states to the DI rolls. Our results show a pro-cyclical behavior of participation in DI during the years of the Great Recession. This is in contrast to the countercyclical response documented both for other countries as well as for Spain before 2008. We document some facts that partially explain why DI benefits have become pro instead of countercyclical during the Great Recession in Spain. Our results provide valuable evidence for policy-makers as they highlight that some of the disabled population may be left economically uncovered during the worst of times. KEY WORDS: Disability, Great Recession, labour market transitions JEL CLASSIFICATION: I13, I38, J14. 1 We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Recercaixa for the 2014 project “Promoting the labour market integration of disabled workers: a policy evaluation exercise for Spain" and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy grant ECO2014-52238-R.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Tourism in Spain: an Analysis of the Tourism Product, Attractions and Itineraries Offered by Chinese Travel Agencies1
    Cuadernos de Turismo, nº 37, (2016); pp. 243-268 Universidad de Murcia ISSN: 1139-7861 eISSN: 1989-4635 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/turismo.37.256231 CHINESE TOURISM IN SPAIN: AN ANALYSIS OF THE TOURISM PRODUCT, ATTRACTIONS AND ITINERARIES OFFERED BY CHINESE TRAVEL AGENCIES1 Aureli Lojo Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ABSTRACT Analysis of the characteristics of tourism in China, and the evolution of Spain as an international destination, illustrates the importance of understanding Chinese outbound tou- rism and its implications for the Spanish tourism industry. The results of the paper present the characteristics of the tourism product offered by Chinese travel agencies. The study also indicates the itineraries, the main destinations within Spain and the distinctive elements of Spain that are valued by the tour operators. The purposes of this study are (1) to identify the patterns of the tourist groups from China to Spain and (2) to understand the characteristics of the tour packages offered by Chinese travel agencies. Keywords: Chinese tourism; Spain; tour operators; tourism product; content analysis. Received: 31 October 2015 Returned for revision: 30 November 2015 Accepted: 15 December 2015 Departamento de Geografía. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Edificio B. 08193 Bellaterra. BARCE- LONA (España). E-mail: [email protected] 1 Aureli Lojo is a PhD candidate and this article is part of his dissertation within the PhD Programme in Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Acknowledgements The author greatly appreciates the support of Anqi (Angel) Wang from the University of Memphis for their generous contributions and language revision. This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain, under the program «Formación de Profesorado Universitario» (FPU014/03436) and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain, through the project «Reconversión, revalorización y reinvención de espacios turísticos interiores de España.
    [Show full text]
  • What Drives House Price Cycles? International Experience and Policy Issues+
    What Drives House Price Cycles? International Experience and Policy Issues+ JOHN V. DUCA and JOHN MUELLBAUER, with ANTHONY MURPHY* The role of real estate during the global financial and economic crisis has prompted efforts to better incorporate housing and financial channels into macro-models, improve housing models, develop macroprudential tools, and reform the financial system. This article provides an overview of major, recent contributions to the literature in relation to earlier research on what drives housing prices and how they affect economic activity. Particularly emphasized are studies, both theoretical and more strongly evidence-based, which connect housing markets with credit markets, house price expectations, financial stability, and the wider economy. The literature reveals much diversity in the international and regional behavior of house prices and the need to improve data tracking key housing supply and demand influences. Also reviewed are studies examining how monetary, macroprudential, and other policies affect house prices and access to housing. This survey is designed to help readers navigate the plethora of recent studies and understand the unsettled issues and avenues for further research. The findings should be of interest to policy makers concerned with financial stability as well as those dealing with the role of housing in the wider economy. * Duca: Oberlin College, Department of Economics and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Research Department. Muellbauer: Nuffield College and Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of Oxford. Murphy: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Research Department. The views expressed are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
    [Show full text]
  • Oecd Economic Surveys: Spain 2018 © Oecd 2018 │ Executive Summary 4
    OECD Economic Surveys Spain OVERVIEW www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-spain.htm This Overview is extracted from the Economic Survey of Spain. The Survey is published on the responsibility of the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) of the OECD, which is charged with the examination of the economic situation of member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. OECD Economic Surveys: Spain© OECD 2018 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY │ 3 Executive Summary Spain has made a successful recovery The resilience of public finances should be increased to address medium-term challenges Bringing people back into employment and reducing regional disparities would make growth more inclusive Policies to improve competition and innovation will be key to boosting productivity growth and exports OECD ECONOMIC SURVEYS: SPAIN 2018 © OECD 2018 │ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 Spain has made a successful recovery Table A: Economic growth is set to moderate The strong recovery continues (Figure A).
    [Show full text]
  • The Distribution of Wealth in Spain: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data
    THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN SPAIN: EVIDENCE FROM CAPITALIZED INCOME TAX DATA Master Thesis written by Clara Martínez-Toledano Toledano and supervised by Professors Facundo Alvaredo and Thomas Piketty to obtain the degree of Master in Public Policy and Development September 2015 Abstract* In this paper we analyze wealth inequality in Spain throughout the economic ex- pansion of the early 2000s and the subsequent recession. For that, we construct wealth shares for the period 2002 and 2011 using income tax micro-data and the investment income method. Our results reveal two striking facts. First, there was a generalized drop in wealth concentration between 2002 and 2006, the years of the boom, followed by a marked increase in wealth inequality in 2007, the year of the burst of the crisis, and a subsequent slight decline in concentration until 2011. Second, the increase in wealth inequality between 2002 and 2011 was a phenomenon concentrated within the top 10 to 0.5%. The main reason is that at the very top of the wealth distribution, the surge in stock prices was not enough to compensate for the dramatic increase in real estate prices, which benefits upper (but not very top) wealth holders. Surprisingly, we find that wealth is much more concentrated than in previous studies which use other data and methods. In fact, our series reveal that the level of wealth concentration in Spain is close to the one obtained by Saez and Zucman[2014] in the US. Keywords: Wealth; Inequality; Spain. *I thank my two supervisors, Professors Facundo Alvaredo and Thomas Piketty, for giving me the opportunity to study under their guidance and for their excellent super- vision.
    [Show full text]
  • Financial Report Valles Del Desierto Highway, Chile Consolidated Financial Statements and Consolidated Management Report
    Financial Report Valles del Desierto Highway, Chile Consolidated Financial Statements and Consolidated Management Report CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS and CONSOLIDATED MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020, AND AUDITORS’ REPORT ON THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT 3 4 Consolidated Financial Statements and Consolidated Management Report INDEX FINANCIAL REPORT AUDITORS’ REPORT ON THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AND 2019 17 SEPARATE CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AND 2019 19 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AND 2019 21 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AND 2019 22 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEARS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020 AND 2019 24 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT 1. SACYR’S ACTIVITY 29 2. SCOPE OF CONSOLIDATION AND SUBSIDIARIES 30 3. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION 39 4. NON-CURRENT ASSETS HELD FOR SALE AND DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS 58 4.1. AUTOPISTA DEL GUADALMEDINA CONCESIONARIA ESPAÑOLA, S.A. 58 5. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT 59 6. LEASES 62 7. CONCESSION PROJECT 63 8. OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS 74 9. GOODWILL 76 9.1. MOVEMENTS 76 9.2. IMPAIRMENT TEST OF GOODWILL 77 10. INVESTMENTS ACCOUNTED FOR USING THE EQUITY METHOD 79 11. CONTRIBUTION BY PROPORTIONATELY CONSOLIDATED COMPANIES 97 12. RECEIVABLES FROM CONCESSIONS 97 13. NON-CURRENT AND CURRENT FINANCIAL ASSETS 101 14. TAX SITUATION 102 14.1. CONSOLIDATED TAX GROUP 102 14.2. YEARS OPEN FOR INSPECTION 103 14.3. TAX RATE 104 5 14.4. CHANGE IN DEFERRED TAXES 106 14.5.
    [Show full text]
  • Results Presentation, Fisrt Half July 21, 2021
    Download the Iberdrola Investor: First half July 21, 2021 Available in Available on the Google App Store Play (iPhone & iPad) IBERDROLA, S.A. Investor relations Phone: 00 34 91 784 2804 [email protected] www.iberdrola.com | Legal Notice 1 L egal Notice www.iberdrola.com First half 2021 | | Legal Notice 2 DISCLAIMER TThis document has been prepared by Iberdrola, S.A. exclusively for use during the presentation of financial results of the first semester of the 2021 fiscal year. As a consequence thereof, this document may not be disclosed or published, nor used by any other person or entity, for any other reason without the express and prior written consent of Iberdrola, S.A. Iberdrola, S.A. does not assume liability for this document if it is used with a purpose other than the above. The information and any opinions or statements made in this document have not been verified by independent third parties; therefore, no express or implied warranty is made as to the impartiality, accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or the opinions or statements expressed herein. Neither Iberdrola, S.A. nor its subsidiaries or other companies of the Iberdrola Group or its affiliates assume liability of any kind, whether for negligence or any other reason, for any damage or loss arising from any use of this document or its contents. Neither this document nor any part of it constitutes a contract, nor may it be used for incorporation into or construction of any contract or agreement. Information in this document about the price at which securities issued by Iberdrola, S.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Connecting FSU Valencia's Future with Pieces of the City's Past
    Summer 2014 A magazine written and produced omadic by students in Florida State University’s NNomadic Study-Abroad Valencia Program NNolesoles Connecting FSU Valencia’s future with pieces of the city’s past PAGE 4 Students in FSU’s Valencia program now have a new home, following the purchase of a second building (background photo). The inset image shows the interior before the renovation. 4 10 24 Beyond the study center Table of contents Summer 2014 Community service 8 Communicating the Spanish way 16 International Noles give back to their temporary Students overcome language barriers so they can Faces of the staff home by helping older adults and by feeding kids. socialize with local shopkeepers and restaurant By Zachary Souza workers. New program, new magazine From vineyards to Valencia 6 By Paula Nicole Meneses he photo that accompanies this introduction is an image Associate Program Director Alicia Martínez provides The scenic route 10 Tthat becomes very familiar to students, faculty, and staff cultural insight to all at FSU Valencia. Art, Architecture, and Artistic Vision class explores Let loose and get lost 22 who participate in Florida State University’s Study-Abroad By Allison Killip Valencia’s past as students learn to appreciate the city’s Learn about a foreign culture through immersion and Program in Valencia, Spain. The Torres de Serranos, built in rich history and gain insight into the present. firsthand experiences. 1392 and located in the city’s center, act as a beacon for anyone A calming presence 14 By Monique Boileau By Katherine Cornelison looking for FSU’s Garnet Study Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Immigration in Spain: What Have We Learned from Recent Evidence?*
    Immigration in Spain: what have we learned from recent evidence?* Sara de la Rica University of the Basque Country and FEDEA Albrecht Glitz Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona GSE Francesc Ortega Queens College, CUNY Abstract This paper summarizes the recent economics literature on the immigration wave experienced by Spain over the last decade. We survey this growing literature and focus on two key questions: what has been the socio-economic performance of immigrants in Spain and how has immigration impacted the native population. On the former, we conclude that there is evidence of large and highly persistent gaps in the economic performance of immigrants relative to natives in Spain. On the latter, the studies surveyed reveal substantial adaptations in economic choices of Spanish natives in a number of dimensions, including the labor market, household production, schooling, and the housing market. Keywords: immigration, Spain, labor market, housing, schooling, occupations. JEL codes: J2, J11, J15, J61. Resumen Este artículo revisa la literatura económica reciente sobre la ola de inmigración que ha experimentado España durante la última década. Nuestro análisis de esta amplia literatura se centra en dos preguntas: cuáles han sido los resultados socioeconómicos que han logrado los inmigrantes en España, y cómo ha afectado la inmigración a la población nativa. En relación con la primera cuestión, la conclusión es que hay evidencia sobre la existencia de grandes y permanentes diferenciales económicos entre nativos e inmigrantes. Sobre la segunda pregunta, los estudios revisados muestran que, a consecuencia de la inmigración, los españoles han modificado sus comportamientos en múltiples decisiones económicas, incluyendo el mercado de trabajo, las labores domésticas, la escolarización y el mercado de la vivienda.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Cite Complete Issue More Information About This Article
    Revista de Sociologia e Política ISSN: 0104-4478 ISSN: 1678-9873 Universidade Federal do Paraná Gelado-Marcos, Roberto; Puebla-Martínez, Belén; Rubira-García, Rainer Twitter, the End of Bipartisan Politics and the Rise of Populism. The Spanish Campaign in May 2015 Revista de Sociologia e Política, vol. 27, no. 71, e007, 2019 Universidade Federal do Paraná DOI: 10.1590/1678-987319277107 Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=23862882007 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System Redalyc More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Journal's webpage in redalyc.org Portugal Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative Original Articles Twitter, the End of Bipartisan Politics and the Rise of Populism. The Spanish Campaign in May 2015 DOI 10.1590/1678-987319277107 Roberto Gelado-MarcosI , Belén Puebla-MartínezII e Rainer Rubira-GarcíaIII IFacultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Comunicación Universidad San Pablo, CEU, Madrid, España. IIFacultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, España. IIIFacultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, España. ABSTRACT Introduction: The seemingly unshakable bipartisan political system in Spain started to crumble in the wake of the Euro- pean Elections of 2014, giving way to a more fragmented distribution of seats. Such process crystallised in the Regional Elections of 2015, highlighting an already anticipated decay of traditional parties PP and PSOE and rise of populist parties like Podemos. Materials and Methods: Focusing on the discourse of Spanish politicians on Twitter, as one of the most recent political communication tools politicians had to learn to deal with, this paper offers a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Enhancing Digital Diffusion for Higher Productivity Growth in Spain,Spain
    Enhancing digital diffusion for higher productivity growth in Spain By Aida Caldera Sánchez, Müge Adalet McGowan and Yosuke Jin Digitalisation is transforming the Spanish economy, changing the way firms operate, with positive implications for productivity. However, these changes are not evenly shared between high and low productivity firms, or small and large firms (Figure 1), which can help explain why aggregate productivity gains from digitalisation have been modest in Spain so far. Hence, Spain still has considerable scope to reap the benefits of the adoption of digital technologies and, perhaps more importantly, their effective use to produce new business models and products, as discussed in the2021 Economic Survey of Spain (OECD, 2021; Jin, 2021). Figure 1. The adoption of digital technologies varies with firm size Percentage of firms which adopt each technology, 2019 Note: “Small firms” stands for small enterprises with 10-49 employees, while “Large firms” stands for large enterprises with 250 employees and more. Source: OECD, ICT Access and Usage by Businesses (database). The pandemic has shown the benefits of a more digitalised economy (e-commerce, teleworking) and accelerated the pace of digital adoption, with the extent of teleworking and digital sales increasing in Spain during the last year. The Spanish Recovery, Resilience and Transformation Plan allocates 29% of funds to digitalisation, which will help Spain achieve its ambitious objectives laid out in its national digital strategy, “Digital Spain 2025”. In this context of the increasing importance of digitalisation in Spain, the Survey analyses the challenges and opportunities that digitalisation offers through three types of policies. First, good communications infrastructure is a prerequisite to adopt and use digital technologies.
    [Show full text]
  • Solidarity Actions Based on Religious Plurality
    religions Article Solidarity Actions Based on Religious Plurality Lena de Botton 1 , Emilia Aiello 2,3, Maria Padrós 4,* and Patricia Melgar 5 1 Department of Sociology, University of Barcelona, 08034 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected] 2 Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; [email protected] 3 Department of Sociology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain 4 Department of Didactics and Educational Organization, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain 5 Department of Pedagogy, University of Girona, 17004 Girona, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The successive crises experienced recently (financial crisis in 2008, refugees in 2015 and the current crisis resulting from COVID) have led to surges in discrimination, racism and lack of solidarity between groups. However, these same crises have inspired important manifestations of solidarity with a significant social impact (improving people’s lives) for many groups and in very different areas. This article focuses on two solidarity initiatives (interreligious language pairs and a cooperative) that contribute to overcoming inequalities and the social exclusion of the most vulnerable groups, to explore whether religious plurality and the interreligious dialogue present in these initiatives are a favourable element for solidarity. Keywords: solidarity; religious plurality; social impact Citation: de Botton, Lena, Emilia Aiello, Maria Padrós, and Patricia Melgar. 2021. Solidarity Actions 1. Introduction Based on Religious Plurality. Religions An increase in lack of solidarity, hate speech discourse and discrimination against 12: 564. https://doi.org/10.3390/ certain groups (Habermas 1999) often occurs after a crisis (for instance, the financial crisis rel12080564 of 2008, the humanitarian crisis of refugees that began in 2015 or the current consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic).
    [Show full text]