"There was a lack of political will," said John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network, a group that aims to improve fiscal openness.
The government's program calls for raising energy prices, which still lag far behind the cost of production, and for greater fiscal openness in the operations of Russia's natural gas monopoly, Gazprom.
The severe imbalances of the Spanish economy were ignored because Spain ticked the correct boxes according to the orthodoxy of the boom years: fiscal probity, openness to financial flows, labour market flexibility and an acquisitive and outward-looking corporate sector.
Such transitions are almost always subject to hiccups, but the payoffs of remaining faithful to market openness and fiscal discipline are well documented, they argue.
Arthur Kroeber of Dragonomics, a consultancy, argues that it has made solid progress on eight of Mr Williamson's ten commandments, including fiscal discipline and an openness to foreign trade and direct investment.
Starting in the 1980s, the prevailing system was replaced by neoliberal economic policies that commanded fiscal discipline, trade liberalization, openness to foreign direct investment, privatization, financial liberalization, deregulation, secure intellectual property rights and a reduced role for the state, and this became the dominant economic paradigm for the promotion of growth.
Both want orthodox fiscal and monetary policy, more openness to trade and less government meddling in business.
Many of Ms Silva's sensible, middle-of-the-road proposals match Mr Neves's, especially on the economy: both promote orthodox fiscal and monetary policy, greater openness to trade and less government meddling in business.
Abby Joseph Cohen, the Goldman Sachs strategist, rose last Monday night to praise the wiser fiscal policies, lowered inflation, increased openness to trade and better financial disclosure that have improved the business climate.
Mr. Kingston has the backing of some outside fiscal watchdogs and promises a new openness on the panel.
The lessons that can be drawn from the results obtained for the Spanish provinces are also relevant for other open economies, such as several in Latin America, to the extent that they share with the Spanish economy some key features as the degree of openness, central bank behavior, fiscal policy stance, etc.
