Economic policy of the Government of Spain 2011-2015: achieved stability, persistent fracture

Abstract

Following the custom of our journal, analyze and evaluate the economic policies of Governments which end a legislature, this editorial is about the stage of Rajoy’s Government from 2011 to 2015. There is a broad consensus on the obligation of an austerity policy imposed by the European framework in 2011 to avoid intervention. In the Spanish and European context of that year, the Government had no other way out than the budgetary stability with the containment of public expenditure. From the event that economic policy is primarily political, although one of their complex forms, and that all economic policy must take into account constraints of the immediate context that exerts more influence in that, our analysis of this attempt to explain the behavior of public officials, essentially the Government during that period.

The editorial part of the analysis of the situation in December 2011, marked by recession and very relevant to the called party electoral support then to form a Government; then refers to the first biennium (2012-2013), focused on adjustments and reformist activism to win credibility inside and outside competition and "avoid the rescue", for which began hard political adjustments and reforms in the working market and in bank restructuring, with results like these: economic growth, budgetary stability and unpopularity of the settings. The second biennium (2014-2015) has been marked by the "out of the crisis", whose objectives were to generate broader expectations and increase the possible votes for the Government. At this stage there have been some failed reform policies, in addition to an important part of the population has suffered the social consequences of the austerity with a rising social fracture. At the conclusion of the editorial on this complex term, marked by an economic recovery with difficulties, we underline the achievement of budgetary stability and the growing social fracture, which have derived a serious generational, territorial and political fragmentation. In recent years there have been many economy, but less political, there have been management, but not the leadership of the State and its economic policy. The Spanish economy lives from 2014 a recovery with difficulties. If the goal was simply "out of the economic abyss", you have to conclude that this has been achieved; If we think "at what cost", probably this may be considered too high.