He publicado un artículo en el Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues (IREF) titulado: Free market is not to be blamed for the private debt bubble: the case of Spain (enlace al .pdf). Trata sobre las causas de la formación de la burbuja de deuda privada en España en la etapa del boom económico. El abstract:
When reflecting on the causes of the current economic and financial crisis, the huge upsurge in private debt is one of the most cited reasons. Some people insist on blaming the private sector for this. According to them, the sustainability of its behavior has been clearly put into question by the recent events. But, what lies behind this exorbitant private indebtedness? This article focuses on the Spanish case.
Las conclusiones:
Hence, the fact that private debt –not public debt- played the most important role in the credit bubble, destabilizing the whole financial and economic system, would not mean whatsoever that free markets are responsible for that. Actually, free markets did not really prevailed, so they cannot be blamed. Private agents took their decisions induced by distorted macroeconomic signals –e.g. artificially low interest rates, cheap credit- and encouraged by too ambitious—and often corrupted–government policies. This explains why they took the wrong investment decisions.
Artículo relacionado: Deuda pública o privada: ¿Cuál es nuestro problema?