91% of economists support changing the Catalan production model
Increasing productivity remains one of the top priorities, according to the professional group.
BarcelonaNinety-one percent of Catalan economists, who held their annual conference in Barcelona, believe that Catalonia must change its production model to guarantee its competitiveness, according to data from the College of Economists announced by the organization's dean, Carles Puig de Travy. The challenges are overcoming low productivity, infrastructure deficiencies, excessive bureaucracy, and a lack of structural reforms. At the same conference, the Catalan Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, on the same day that Catalonia's growth figures for the third quarter were released (0.7% quarter-on-quarter and 2.4% year-on-year), stated: "Competitiveness must generate wealth that is shared socially and territorially, otherwise..."
In the opening conference, Professor Emeritus Josep Oliver highlighted the remarkable change in the productive structure due to premature deindustrialization in favor of the service economy and the "radical" transformation of human capital and the labor market.
During the morning, a round table discussion was also held with former Ministers of Business, in which Àngels Chacón, Ramon Tremosa, and Roger Torrent participated. They highlighted the National Pact for Knowledge, the National Pact for Industry, saving the Boí Taüll ski resort, the renewal of the Formula 1 contract, and the renewal of the agreement for the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) as major achievements of their terms in terms of competitiveness.