“We have appropriated our children’s future by living a lifestyle that can only be paid for with debt,” argued Juan María Nin this morning at ESADE, during the presentation of his new book Por un crecimiento racional. De la Gran Recesión al estancamiento: soluciones para competir en un mundo digital [“For rational growth. From the Great Recession to stagnation: solutions to compete in a digital world”], published by Deusto S.A Ediciones. “Our children have no prospects of good wages in the future; we are condemning them to a future of little more than the minimum wage.”

During the presentation, Mr. Nin analysed the factors that brought about the economic and financial crisis that has plagued Europe’s economies for the past ten years, as well as the responses of the various governments and their consequences.

Mr. Nin – former Vice President and CEO of CaixaBank and current member of ESADE’s Board of Trustees – commented: “We are facing the end of an economic cycle. The current model and all vectors of growth have been exhausted, and we must learn from our mistakes.” During the session, Mr. Nin reviewed various economic treatises, noting: “In the Keynes-Hayek debate, Keynes has come out ahead, if you look at the numbers and the evolution of the public spending–deficit–debt triad.”

Solutions and proposals

Mr. Nin commented: “Thanks to the central banks, we have extra time that we must take advantage of. We must re-focus on income, but most importantly we must go back to austerity, sacrifice and decision-making,” before adding that “moral discourse is fundamental”.

Mr. Nin predicted that the world of the future will “be more serene and have more values”, adding: “I welcome the revolution.” He warned: “Using our current problems as an excuse to do the same things again will lead us to disaster. We are selling a second-hand future, so once again we must oppose it.” He concluded: “We must debate the quality and efficiency of how our services are managed and whether they should or should not be a public monopoly.”

During the session, Mr. Nin recalled some personal experiences, including an intense Bilderberg debate where he addressed Spain’s situation in recovering from the crisis and an interview with Angela Merkel for the same purpose.

The deputy director of La Vanguardia, Manuel Pérez, joined Mr. Nin in a panel discussion. Institutional welcome remarks were delivered by Eugenia Bieto, Director General of ESADE. The session was moderated by Mar Vila, Director of the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at ESADE.