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    <title><![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Guillem López Casasnovas]]></title>
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      <title><![CDATA[To evaluate, counter-intuit. The purposes of the subsidies]]></title>
      <link><![CDATA[https://en.arabalears.cat/opinion/to-evaluate-counter-intuit-the-purposes-of-the-subsidies_129_5859238.html]]></link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>It is well known that in the Islands we have heavily subsidized mobility. Is this the way to supposedly compensate for the costs of insularity? I am not sure that it is. Does the fact that the intercity bus is free for users help make goods cheaper? I would rather say no, to the extent that it inflates demand. Perhaps transport does not have to cover costs in full with its fares, but it is good that we all know the cost of things and what the objective of the reduction is. And, as we have learned with the elimination of tolls, zero cost does not exist: someone else is paying for it. I also do not see the current operation of discounts on ship and plane transport for island residents as being at all clear, when we should instead focus on freight rates if anything. Certainly, transport discounts are on the backs of all Spaniards, in the same way that the deficits of peninsular trains that we islanders do not have are also partly at our expense. But this second justification does not make the first one good. It also makes no sense that, given the subsidies, the taxi transfer from the airport ends up being more expensive than the plane ticket. I do not see in all assumptions sufficient evaluated evidence of positive externalities for such subsidized mobility, nor a sufficient argument for equity, in view of who its greatest beneficiaries are. And the fact is that I verify that there are many false residents who register in the Islands without effectively living there. They are processes of almost free choice, with little cost to those who exercise them, and which benefit the most clever, who are usually the most well-off. Recently this effect has also been verified with the free choice of doctor in the Spanish healthcare system. The richest and most educated know how to take better advantage of it. The lack of effective control otherwise incentivizes the abuse of subsidies. It would be better to have a subsidy system that establishes blackout dates; for example, at the point of origin, entries to the Islands on peninsular long weekends or weekends, and the equivalent at the destination for the same residents traveling to the Peninsula, or setting a lower percentage of subsidy in these mentioned cases. And to prevent companies from taking advantage of it by selectively increasing the prices to which the discount is applied. A fake resident suffers, currently only, as a cost of their fraudulent choice, the fact of not having a primary care physician in the place of effective residence. But the fact that this does not matter already tells us that it is about fairly wealthy people who probably have private insurance and do not use public primary care. With the upcoming limitation of vehicle entries in the summer, it is also necessary to analyze the measure with a magnifying glass regarding the cars of fake residents who pay circulation taxes outside the Islands. And, of course, the large car rental multinationals that seasonally bring in huge fleets of vehicles that have paid taxes outside of our home.However, I do not think some penalties are bad, such as the fact that the fees for some services, such as waste collection, for example, do not distinguish based on the lower use of holiday homes, since the fixed part of the cost and maintenance, more or less, depends on the peaks in demand for which those non-residents are equally decisive. I do believe that volume should have a significant influence on businesses, especially those that are highly seasonal, as they are the ones that set the maximum installed capacity to meet peak demand. Certainly, the regulation of fees, unlike public prices, cannot have net collection effects, but only cost recovery. But if this applies to the full cost of the service, it is necessary to check how this amount is reached, since important issues of efficiency and equitable distribution are at stake. Everything mentioned implies the need to evaluate the measures, particularly the populist ones, as they often have effects different from those postulated. The latest one from the current Spanish government, which extends to 52 years the age of exit from the market for those already considered non-relocatable, with a guaranteed income and a pre-established pension, is an unequivocal case. This measure harms many of those who still strive to work and provide for their own pension by paying contributions that ensure minimum periods, paid out of pocket as the self-employed that they are, even during periods without income. It would be better for them to quit given what they earn and that theirs will be a lower pension than those who have stopped working and live on subsidies and what they can collect from activities without an invoice.</p>]]></description>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guillem López Casasnovas]]></dc:creator>
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      <pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:52:53 +0000]]></pubDate>
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      <title><![CDATA[Realign tourism in the Islands]]></title>
      <link><![CDATA[https://en.arabalears.cat/misc/redirect-tourism-in-the-islands_129_5827533.html]]></link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://static1.ara.cat/clip/6da5b677-7ea6-4fb4-a62a-fe753eba1c09_16-9-aspect-ratio_default_0_x794y459.jpg" /></p><p>In <a href="https://www.ara.cat/opinio/turisme-rics-turisme-pobres_129_5812220.html" >the last article in ARA</a> I focused on the sociological aspects of tourism. In this second one, I would like to analyze some elements that surround the sector and that mark its evolution in the Islands. With the irruption of tourism, in its initial moments (subdivisions, constructions, sale of places to tour operators), the traditional activities of the Balearic Islands lost strength. We do not know what would have happened without tourism, but we do know that, from an entrepreneurial point of view, this new activity ended up swallowing the others, being as it was much simpler than the traditional industrial one. Without a doubt, for those who had surpluses to spend, the business alternative in favor of tourist promotions and associated activities was very tempting.From here we have entrepreneurs enriched in real estate transactions (buying to resell) and others who have made an industry out of the tourism offer (production cycle, with infrastructure and job creation). Without regulation, they all want, even today, more: more developable land, more hotel rooms, more licenses for bars and restaurants. Some think that the existence of more visitors gives more possibilities for new places or restaurant terraces to be filled. But it is a reality that increasingly more visitors are needed to achieve business, as a growing part escapes this legal offer and planned consumption (where they sleep, where they eat, where they spend). And, of course, when we turn on the tap we cannot later separate it by types of water. Thinking that our boots are fuller by putting water in them not only serves to deceive ourselves, but also ends up spoiling the good initial wine.The industrial hotel entrepreneur, neat with his offer and respectful of his surroundings, will take care of integrating consumption and preserving the brand. All we have to ask him is that he does not expect the business to work on the basis of volume, subsidized by the State and with broad discretion from the administrations. As I have commented in other articles, the sector receives multiple and diverse aid (low taxation, incomplete costs, water prices, quite lax labor regulation) because it suits the State to increase stays (we mean foreign currency) at any price, if necessary subsidizing costs to maintain demand at low prices. The good entrepreneur knows, however, that all this cannot have a future.Every islander comes to think that in one way or another they live thanks to tourism. In some cases directly because of the job they have, and in others because of the auxiliary services that external demand inflates for a few months. Undoing this web is very difficult today. That is why it is always advisable to emphasize that the feasible alternative is not to do more of the same, but to improve the tourism we already have; not to make the web more extensive, thinner, and with more risk of a gust of wind carrying it all away. But the workers in the sector themselves must be clear that, to secure their jobs, the solution is not to grow more with employment that we do not have and that we must seek elsewhere. Employers have been complaining for years that they lack workers: carpenters, mechanics, plumbers, technical engineers, minimally trained labor. But by now it should be evident to everyone that, in the past, all the increase in the new population has been absorbed by the hospitality industry, which requires less training, with tasks for "seasonal discontinuous" workers that do not allow for the desirable stabilization and professional integration. And every year we continue the same. This is not a question of immigrants yes or no, but of straightening out our own vocational training once and for all!Opting for more people to come is as easy as it is wrong, and then socially complex to manage. For example, regarding Menorca, since we are not a "province", the INE does not say how many residents of the island were born on the island, but in certain population segments we may no longer reach half. It is not at all clear how we will maintain the country's language and culture, social cohesion, and commitment to the inherited heritage.Warning, ultimately, when ecosystem solutions are proposed: since everything ends up depending on everything else, it is usually a great excuse to do nothing (perhaps one doesn't know where to start?). Be attentive when the recipe is the need for a "cultural change", an "institutional" reform, the wait for "political consensus", the modification of "capitalism's structures", or the extension and achievement of more "social awareness"... While all are correct factors, thinking this way doesn't solve what we do in the meantime. It's tiring that some want to pull our leg with new studies, future initiatives, and various occurrences. Meanwhile, the Balearic Islands are the place with the most housing access problems, with the highest cost of living, with clear symptoms of depleting resources... And as of June 30th, it was the autonomous community that had increased visitors the most and created the most employment. But with what is happening, regarding gross disposable family income, in real terms of purchasing power, they don't say a peep!</p>]]></description>
      <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guillem López Casasnovas]]></dc:creator>
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      <pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:25:28 +0000]]></pubDate>
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      <media:title><![CDATA[The hubbub of Mercadal on July 20th.]]></media:title>
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