The Economy of Catalonia

the will of the people. The great majority of the Catalan business people
think that getting involved in political battles would distract them from
their main job, which is to create and develop competitive businesses. Of
course, it cannot be expected that business people would be unconcerned
about the possibility of a boycott against their company in particular, or
about the natural uncertainty associated with the sovereignty process. The
best way of facing this situation, however, is surely the intelligent reply
given by Pedro Bonet, director of communication at Freixenet. When
asked if he were worried about a possible boycott, he said: “Our job is to
make good cava and we sell it in 145 countries.” 57
Boycott and the political economy of independence
Although the aggregate results of a boycott’s effects are quite significant,
they are not sufficient to allow an analysis of the political support stemming
from purely economic motives that the independence project may
have. It would be necessary to go beyond this and to conduct a detailed
study of how the costs and benefits of independence would be distributed
among the various social groups and of how this distribution would influence
these groups’ political attitudes. For example, assuming that the costs
of independence would be mainly concentrated in a few companies that
are very closely linked to the Spanish market, it may be thought that the
political opposition to independence would be relatively scant, at least in
quantitative terms. This would be all the more so if it is considered that the
potential beneficiaries, who are all the taxpayers who would gain from
lower taxes and better public services, form the much larger group. Despite
this, however, at least according to the study by Mancur Olson (The
Logic of Collective Action), it is precisely small groups with strong interests
who have the biggest incentives and capacity to organise themselves in
defence of these interests and not the more numerous groups whose interests
are much more dispersed. Consequently, it is not surprising that, within
Catalan society, influential campaigns are constantly under way in defence
of the status quo – campaigns that, in the name of some purported
general interests of the country, actually seek to protect the interests –the
legitimate interests, it goes without saying– of certain very specific groups.
57. See the article in the daily paper Ara at www.ara.cat/economia/Freixenent-sobre-linependentiste-dediquem-paisos_0_777522379.html)
188 The Economy of Catalonia