“We must strengthen freedom and the market. Reforms must be based on strengthening institutions”

“Two hundred years after their emancipation, Latin American nations should present a balance of their institutional development and of how they have protected individual freedoms”

The Economics course analyzed the consequences of the crisis and the solutions to overcome it. Austerity, credibility, reforms, fiscal consolidation, and innovation are key to overcome the crisis, which should take into account the lessons of Argentina.

Zapatero firmó la Declaración final de la cumbre sobre los mercados financieros en la que, pese a la desinformación y confusión vertidas por el Gobierno, se afirma que las "reformas únicamente tendrán el éxito si están firmemente fundamentadas sobre un firme compromiso con los principios del libre mercado, incluyendo el imperio de la ley, el respeto por la propiedad privada, el comercio y las inversiones libres en los mercados competitivos y se apoyan sobre unos sistemas financieros eficientes y eficazmente regulados".

Between 1996 and 2004, Spain enjoyed the longest period of prosperity in its democratic history. Five million jobs, convergence of up to 98% with regard to the average EU income per capita, low inflation, a favourite destination for foreign investment, reduction of the public debt in terms of GDP, a budget surplus and creation of a Social Security Reserve Fund, are all results of a new economic model introduced by the Partido Popular. The key aspects of this model are described in this book by Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós and Ricardo Martínez Rico. The foundations of this new economic model consisted of the following measures: restraints on public expenditure, reorientation of expenditure based on efficiency criteria, reductions in income tax and corporate tax rates, the elimination of certain forms of taxation, privatisation, liberalisation of the goods and services markets, promotion of competition, independent regulatory bodies, labour market reforms and more open economic links with abroad.

The Spanish economy has a strong degree of momentum in terms of economic growth (above the European average) based on the significant expansion of domestic demand. Over the year and a half in which the present government has been in power, not a single significant economic measure has been introduced, although the effects of previous reforms continue to be felt.

Jaime García-Legaz: Las necesarias reformas para continuar hacia el pleno empleo Alberto Carnero:La Europa reunificada como parte de la comunidad atlántica EspañolJavier Zarzalejos: Reforma constitucional: ¿hay alguien ahí? Miguel Ángel Cortés: La excepción cultural: antidemocrática y perjudicial para la cultura en español