Spain: International

Spain has operated under international trade, and it has proven to be very important for their economy, accounting for over half of its GDP. Currently, Spain operates under a trade deficit, but that continues to shrink as their economy struggles to recover. Spain’s biggest trade partners come from within the European Union, with France being the most common destination for Spanish exports, with Germany, Portugal, and Italy close behind. As far as where Spain’s imports come from, Germany accounts for close to 15% of their imports, while France and Italy also contribute. China is the lone non-European country that imports in the top 4 to Spain.

            According to the CIA World Factbook, among Spain’s major exports include machinery, motor vehicles, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, and other consumer goods. If you were to break it down further, the two most specific exports are fish and olive oil, which both fall under that foodstuffs category. As far as imports go, Spain imports machinery, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, fuels, chemicals, and other “semifinished” goods.

            Spain uses the Euro, along with several other countries within the European Union. Currently, one United States dollar will fetch you about 72 cents in Euros. Conversely, one Euro dollar will get you about $1.38 in the United States. What this tells us, is that the Euro is strong comparatively to the United States dollar, and it is at its strongest point since the end of 2012 it seems. The Euro has been significantly stronger since its introduction and integration.

            Emigration from Spain was never greatly relevant until the recent economic crisis, where a 41% increase in emigration among young Spaniards has been noted. The four most popular destinations for the Spanish emigrates were Ecuador, Britain, France, and Germany, with other countries sprinkled behind. As far as immigration goes, Spain has always been a popular destination for immigrants. Because of its location, which connects it through the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco, Spain, as of 2010, was home to over 6 million foreign-born residents, which accounted for 14% of the total population. The two largest immigrant groups in Spain are Romanians, and Moroccans. There are also close to 2 million immigrants from various South American countries.

            Spain’s membership in the European Union gives it a warmer reception to its European counterparts. Spain generally has had good relations with many countries, including Portugal, despite a small scale land dispute along the Portugal-Spain border. One issue for Spain, that hasn’t proved to be a major problem, is Spain’s good relationship with Venezuela, which has a very Anti-United States agenda. The United States disagrees with the relationship, yet their relations with Spain also continue to be very good.

"A Fez of the Heart" by Jeremy Seal--Prologue

Probably the most interesting passage to me comes on Page 13 where Seal writes of his conversation with Halil: “’I’ve eaten’ and pointed at his fez. I thought it was illegal to wear that.’ ‘My boss like me to wear it,’ he replied in English. ‘He think to bring tourists.’ From his disgruntlement, it was apparent that he was an unwilling fez wearer.” I found this passage to really speak volumes, and that’s why I found it interesting. To me, it shows something that is a much bigger deal than you’d think—the effect of tourism on economies and culture. I’ll get into more in a little bit, but I also related this back to our class discussions on culture, and how it can change over time. At one time, fezzes were worn legally and with normality. Then they were illegal. Then they were illegal, but accepted in order to help with business because it’s still a recognizable part of Turkish culture.

            In terms of the interactions of economics and culture, the passage I described above is one huge relationship we can take from the reading. Economics (in this case, the possibility of another sale) overrides the culture of the time, where it was not really popular to wear fezzes. Economics can have that effect on culture, almost rendering it so futile, because the power of money really means more than any sort of cultural insensitivity might. Another quote I really enjoyed reading about was on Page 14, where Seal writes, “It was as if the country’s enduring search for its own identity—Eastern or Western, Islamic or secular, traditional or liberal—were encapsulated in these two contrasting objects and their symbolic payloads that even in shape had a certain resemblance. Pink flesh or purple felt?” What I feel this has to do with economics and culture really comes from my knowledge of Turkey before reading this piece. I have friends from Turkey, and I’ve read the past several years about how Turkey can be a model for the Middle East with their economy and their liberal agenda. Yet, Turkey seems to have somewhat of a dichotomy of sorts when it comes to culture. Seal really hit the nail on the hammer—the two items really do represent two very different Turkeys, so to speak. I think that the Turkey the economic world feels is a potential world power is the liberal Turkey, seeing as no strict Islamic country really leads the world in GDP (you know what I mean). The question is, which Turkey will win out?

            I think that tourism and culture really can go hand in hand, the problem becomes when you have a culture of tourism, and not the other way around. That’s to say, you want to attract people (tourists) for the right reasons, and not compromise on a culture that’s been in the making for ages. The problem with the Turkish village was that they let themselves fall into a culture of tourism, which really means that their culture was directly influenced by their tourists around them. In reality, the tourists didn’t go to a Turkish village. With the signs in English and German all around, it really shows how much was adapted. And to me, some adaptation is good. But the passage I chose to start—with Halil begrudgingly wearing the fez, I felt really showed how much was compromised for the sake of tourism.

Spain: Economy

Well, might as well just hop right into it! Through a variety of research, I was able to find some good data on Spain’s economy. Spain’s GDP, according to the most recent credible data I was able to find (which was an estimate by the CIA in 2013) listed Spain’s GDP at 1.389 trillion. The number would put it at 15^th in the world in terms of GDP. Despite those seemingly very strong numbers, it should be noted that only two years ago, Spain’s GDP was listed at 1.43 trillion, displaying the recession’s effect and how drastically it changed the overall economy of the country.

            Per capita, the GDP is about $30,100, which ranks far lower on the ranking of GDP per capita of countries, at 47^th. That number has also fallen in recent years, as it was listed at $31,000 in the 2011 estimate (the same estimate that listed the total GDP at 1.43 trillion). Spain’s economy also had some other interesting aspects to it, of which I’ll explain soon. But first…

            The life expectancy is an average of 81.47 years for both males and females. For males, the number is lower at 78.47 years, and for females that number is 84.67 years. Some other statistics pertaining to population include that close to 46% of people in Spain are between the ages of 25-54 years old. More women are in Spain than men, which is typical, but there are more young men in Spain than young women, which is also typical. As far as poverty goes, 21.1% of Spain lies below the poverty line, and the literacy rate is actually quite high at 97.7%.

            The unemployment rate in Spain is quite high. The source I’ve been using for most of this data is really up to date, but the unemployment rate varies a little bit. In a separate news article blog I posted earlier, I pointed out that the unemployment rate was 25.6%, which is the actual number, and more recent than the 26.1% figure that was logged in on my source. That number is even more staggering when it only considers youth unemployment—53.2%. A lot of times we think about how the United States has a bad unemployment and youth unemployment rate—but those numbers are both below 10% and 20%, respectively. It’s tough to fathom that if I were in Spain, over 50% of my peers wouldn’t find work. The inflation rate in Spain is 1.8%, which is somewhat low, and that is expected with the massive unemployment rate that typically couples with a low inflation rate.

            In terms of agriculture, Spain produces a lot of grain and vegetables, as well as olives and wine grapes. They are also producers of fish, poultry, pork, and beef. Spain has a Mediterranean climate, which is fitting because, well, they’re in the Mediterranean. They have a long list of natural resources in the country, including but not limited to: coal, iron ore, copper, and zinc. Spain is also connected to the strait of Gibraltar (well, connected to might not be the best term…but it is adjacent). The strait of Gibraltar separates Europe from Africa, with Spain and Morocco sharing the border. Spain has occasional floods and periodic droughts. They also have volcanic activity, but that is only a concern on the Canary Islands, a property of Spain.

            The labor force in Spain is 23.2 million people, which is 29^th in the world.  71.7% of those in the labor force are in some form of services, while 24% are in industry, and 4.2% are in agriculture. The education system in Spain in quite strong, with the average school life expectancy being 17 years primary to tertiary education. Education expenditures however, constitute only 5% of GDP, which is only 80^th in the world.

            Some of the industries in Spain are: textiles and apparel, food and beverages, and metal. Another thing of note when considering industry in Spain is that the industry growth rate is -1.2%, indicating that industry is actually falling in Spain. The infrastructure in Spain is actually quite impressive, as Spain boasts one of the best train systems in Europe. Spain’s infrastructure is called similar to the rest of Europe in that it is constantly upgrading their systems. One thing I found interesting is that nearly half of Spanish energy comes from fossil fuels (48.23%), which is a huge contrast to the 82% that the USA uses.

News Summary Blog #1 Due 4/9/14: "Protecting Spain's Small Victories"

For my first article review, I took the article “Protecting Spain’s Small Victories” by Hugo Dixon. I took it from the New York Times out of the International Business section. At the end of this post, I will include the link to the article if you’d like to read it for yourself to see where I’m coming from. The article goes through the economy in Spain, which has been struggling to recover since a crisis that struck Spain, along with several other Eurozone countries, in the last several years. Dixon talks about how Spain needs to celebrate the fact that despite their slow recovery, they still have some things to keep their head up about. One of the small victories that gets noted is that despite the extremely high unemployment rate of close to 26%, it has fallen early in the cycle, which harbors some good omens of things to come. That has also boosted consumer confidence, which as a result has helped out domestic demand. There are political measures that plan to be taken, which are outlined in the article. Among them is the important action of making it harder for people to receive benefits if they don’t find work, which could encourage job growth in Spain.

            Although this article doesn’t relate to much of what we’ve talked about in class so far, I’m going to do my best to try and make some connections. I didn’t place every statistic from the article into the summary for a reason—I wanted to focus on the things I felt that I could try and relate to what we’ve learned. Namely, thing that really matters, is the boost in consumer confidence leading to increased domestic demand. If we envision a typical supply and demand graph, we see that an increase in demand will lead to increased quantity and increased price. The fact of the matter is though, that the increase in price won’t really bother Spanish consumers because increased employment, and presumably, just an overall higher wealth for Spaniards. We recently studied supply and demand, and so I felt this was an appropriate link. Other things that I tried to consider when reading this article were how this would affect markets in Spain, and the one thing I felt that was plausible to consider was that there would be less overlap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to sell.

            What led to this problem was the Euro crisis! And pretty much everything was wrong during that. One of the key issues was that Spain, like Greece and other countries, amassed so much debt under the Euro, and didn’t have the industry to pay for it. Furthermore, labor is a much more liberal nature in Europe, with younger retirement ages alongside much more lenient labor laws. I think that really the only way to remedy the situation is what is mentioned in the article—increased encouragement of employment. Once we learn more, I’m sure I’ll be able to try and think of other solutions, but no form of fiscal or monetary policy is simple enough to fix the issue immediately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/business/international/protecting-spains-small-victories.html?ref=spain&_r=0

Spain: Culture

Well, the first country profile blog is here, and we’re starting off with culture. This upcoming fall, I’ll be travelling to study in Madrid, Spain at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija. I’m going to go down in order on the list I was given, and explain each of my findings.

            When it comes to Spain, and especially Madrid, the sport most popular—and it isn’t very close—is soccer (or, more accurately, fútbol). Madrid itself is home to one of the most successful soccer teams in Spain, and in the world. That team is the Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (most commonly referred to as Real Madrid or simply Real). Filled with superstars such as the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Welsh Gareth Bale, Real Madrid is one of the richest sports teams in the world, and consistently competes at the highest level in Spain within La Liga (the professional soccer league of Spain) and also at a higher level European league. Currently, Real Madrid sits third in the La Liga table. Funnily enough, their two greatest rivals sit right above them. In first place are their crosstown rivals Atlético Madrid. Atlético Madrid is generally less renowned than Real, simply because they have not achieved the historical success that Real has. However, this season, Atlético has proven themselves a team to be reckoned with. In second place, FC Barcelona sits a single point ahead of Real Madrid. Barcelona and Madrid compete in one of the most heated soccer rivalries in the world, dubbed “El Clasico.” As far as the international level goes, the Spanish national team is among the best in the world, having won the last two European Cups, as well as the last World Cup.

            In addition to soccer, basketball is also a very popular sport in Spain. While not at the level of soccer, basketball is a major sport in Spain, with Real Madrid (in Spain, athletic clubs have many teams, so Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona are also basketball teams, as well as volleyball teams, among other sports). Both Real and Barcelona are consistently at the top of the Spanish league in basketball as well, and also compete in the European championships. The Spanish national basketball team includes NBA stars like Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, and Ricky Rubio, and are currently ranked 2^nd in the world behind the United States, and just above Argentina, Lithuania, and Greece.

            Spanish music is generally regarded simply as flamenco and classical guitar music, but in truth encompasses a much wider range of sound. For Madrid, flamenco is a very popular form of music and dance. Flamenco is considered one of the most intricate and widely practiced forms of dancing around the world, and is taught and practice through the world due its wide reach. Modern music is pretty much Westernized, very similar to what is listened to in the United States and other European countries. In particular, techno is very popular among the youth, especially in the clubs during the night.

All across Spain, the cuisine varies—as is the case in pretty much any country. For that purpose, I focused my research on cuisine centered on Madrid and the surrounding areas of Madrid. Among the things I found out right away are that tapas are a huge deal in Spain. Tapas are generally smaller dishes (appetizers) that provide a variety of flavors and all together may constitute a meal. Outside of tapas, other popular dishes include cocido madrileño, a stew generally made with vegetables and some meat, most of the time beef. Bocadillos (sandwiches) are also eaten often, and Spanish cuisine is typical of other Mediterranean cuisine in that it utilizes a healthy blend of vegetables and meat. Spaniards typically eat a breakfast that is smaller, consisting usually of juice and toast, and a very large lunch (considered the most important meal of the day). Dinner is often tapas or a bocadillo.

As far as religion in Spain is concerned, Christianity—and more specifically, Catholicism—is the most dominant religion in Spain, however most Spaniards don’t identify themselves as regularly practicing. There is also a large Islamic influence in Spain as a result of Muslim conquerers many ages ago. In addition, the Spanish language has also contains Arabic influence. In a recent poll, close to 25% of Spaniards referred to themselves as non-religious altogether.

Despite Spain not being a particularly religious country, many of the holidays that are recognized are as a result of Roman Catholic beliefs and traditions. Each community of Spain (Spain is split into 17 autonomous communities) has different traditions and holidays. Madrid in particular, is the only community to celebrate the regional holiday called “Madrid Day,” and also is the sole celebrant of Corpus Christi.

In general, television in Spain is pretty similar to that of the United States, with Antena3 being the largest channel by share of viewership at nearly 13% of Spain. Similar to like an ABC sort of channel, it airs everything from programs to sports to news. Two particular Spanish stars are the married couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, who are very influential in Spain, in addition to their success in the United States.

For news, I will have a variety of options in both Spanish and English. I have kept up recently with The Telegraph and their tab pertaining to Spain in particular (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/). Another source I can use is The Local (http://www.thelocal.es/) which also offers English language news for Spain, something that will help me when there are language barriers that prevent me from a total understanding of an event or another piece of news. Really, the possibilities are plenty for this, considering technology and how most news engines carry Spanish language and regionalized news as well.

The question on online forums for expatriates was a little bit more difficult to answer, but a simple Google search provided me with http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/, which is as textbook an answer for this question as I can imagine. While a little messy, it still has a lot of info and user-driven information. Another forum I found was http://www.expatica.com/es/main.html, which is much more organized.

In terms of government, I previously mentioned that Spain is split into 17 autonomous communities, which act similar to states. The capital of Spain is Madrid, and the country is a parliamentary monarchy. The chief of state is King Juan Carlos I, who has been there since 1975. The President (who operates a role similar to that of a prime minister) is Mariano Rajoy. The two largest parties are PP (People’s Party) which is more right-leaning. The other major party is PSOE, which is the socialist party. It is important to note that politics in Spain, as in other European countries, are generally much more liberal and left-leaning than the United States.