Public investment after pandemic. What kind of growth is in store?

As a summary of the content of the conference, it became clear that, if in the face of the 2008 financial crisis the recipe for recovery was austerity after the excesses, the recipe against the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is quite different: it is public investment as a lever for growth, it is the recipe for expansive policies to implement major reforms thanks to the significant sum of Next Generation funds; not in vain, Spain will receive in the next 6 years an investment similar to that received via structural funds in the 30 years since our accession to the European Union.

The feeling of hope in the face of inequalities (the panorama that Ignacio de la Torre presented for our young people today could not be more bleak) and the end of the cycle of the current production model extends to the desire for "more democracy in the face of populism" and the excesses of some states that have seen in the adoption of extraordinary public health measures during the pandemic an opportunity to limit rights and freedoms.

In practically the whole world we are suffering from an excess of radicalisation of identity and cultural positions that polarise our societies without being very clear about where so much "resentment" stems from. Professor Antón Costas said that the loss of inclusive prosperity and the fear of the future after the financial crisis are the cause of the excessive polarisation, but the idea of the "silent counter-revolution" of which the recently deceased sociologist Ronald Inglehart spoke also resonated, which drags along the successive modernisations that humanity has experienced, beginning with the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, which adopts rational and secular values as opposed to more traditional values, even of a religious nature. The subsequent transition to a service society led to the adoption of new values such as self-expression and the demand for greater freedoms in democratic societies with easier access to international markets, information and new ICT technologies... In this process of modernisation, which accelerated with the hyper-globalisation of the 1990s, employment was destroyed and inequalities were generated, which would be at the root of the resentment and scars of the latest crises experienced in the 21st century.

There is a "signalling effect" of public investment that will pull in private investment, which is eager to provide society with technological capital in order to move towards more inclusive and more socially and environmentally sustainable growth.

The Next Generation funds therefore open a "window of transformative opportunity" in our country (Spain) and throughout the European Union thanks to a European Central Bank that converts bonds and debentures and generates an extraordinary liquidity of public money so that the countries of the European Union can finance the necessary reforms to improve education, the deployment of active employment policies, the fight against the decarbonisation of our industries and against social inequalities.

It is essential for Spain and the rest of the EU countries to identify strategic sectors in each territory in which to concentrate investments that will allow them to take advantage of the existing strengths in each region, in each community, and to try to streamline efficiencies by raising the competitiveness of our economies while the US and China resolve their domestic issues (disagreements within the Democratic Party with the new Biden administration or the already prolonged slowdown in the Chinese economy) and clarify the role they will play in the new world order over the next decade.

To see a summary of everything that took place during the conference held at La Granja, watch the video left by Víctor Lapuente, the new chairman of the intergenerational meetings at La Granja.