Access to housing has become a major problem, ranking high on the lists of Spaniards’ top concerns in the latest surveys by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research (CIS) and Catalan Center for Opinion Studies (CEO). There are objective grounds for this concern. According to OECD data, in Spain, housing-related expenditure as a share of total household expenditure increased by 8 percentage points between 1995 and 2022.

The labor market participation of women has been converging to that of men across many high-income economies during recent decades. For instance, in the euro area (and according to Labour Force data from Eurostat), the percent of females employed in the population aged 20 to 64 went from 54.9% in 2000 to 67.2% in 2019, an increase of 12.3 percentage points. Over the same period, the same statistic for men remained quite stable, showing an increase of only 2 percentage points. The OECD data on gender wage gaps also reveals a decrease in the wage gap (expressed as percentage of median earnings of men) in OECD countries, from 18.1% in 2000 to 12.6% in 2019. However, women continue to be underrepresented in high-income, high-status occupations, and overrepresented in part-time and insecure working arrangements.

In a globalized world, business competitiveness is particularly important; within it, taxes can play a key role. When can a tax system be considered competitive? One easy and immediate answer has to do with the level of taxation: a low tax burden compared with other countries would ensure a competitive tax system. But the issue is somewhat more complex. First, economic development also requires quality public services and infrastructure, which can hardly be provided without funding. Second, the tax structure also matters, i.e. the weight of the various taxes, as well as each one’s specific design, in which the nominal tax rate is an important factor. Indeed, along with other legal aspects, it is what ultimately determines the effective tax rate, which can condition the establishment of companies or attraction of foreign direct investment. And third, in addition to the direct tax burden, there are also compliance costs1, which are in part related to how many levels of government have regulatory powers.

Drought is an extended period of time in which a territory experiences a shortfall in the water supply. The main cause is usually an ongoing shortage of precipitation (meteorological drought), which can eventually lead to insufficient water resources (hydrological drought) to meet the existing demand. The “volume stored in surface reservoirs” or “river inputs at gauging stations” are two of the most explicit indicators reflecting the hydrological status through the various control points set up throughout the territory.

Market economies inevitably come with economic inequality. However, economic inequality today depends not only on the current generation, but on pre-existing economic inequality inherited from earlier ones. Inequality persists across generations, and this is a challenge for society for several reasons. First, because of fairness: what family we are born into is a lottery; our starting conditions, which condition our life outcomes, are thus beyond our control. Second, because of efficiency: adverse conditions early on can prevent individuals from contributing to society according to their potential and from attaining high levels of well-being. Hence, a crucial question is how to reward the merits of the current generation, which results in greater societal welfare, without allowing them to condition the development of subsequent ones.

According to the European Green Deal, achieving a decarbonized, prosperous, fair and inclusive European economy by 2050 requires urgently tackling a complex equation encompassing not only economic and environmental challenges, but also social aspects. This entails a strong commitment to ensuring access to clean, affordable and safe energy for all Europeans. Yet millions of European households cannot afford essential energy services needed to guarantee a healthy standard of living. In fact, in 2022, 9.3% of the European population reported being unable to keep their homes adequately warm, a 35% increase from the year before. A series of measures must thus be taken to reverse this situation.