strong tax revenue growth of recent years will prove temporary. moreover, we should not waste the opportunity provided by the deployment of european ngeu funds and rtrp structural reforms, which may, in the short term, counterbalance or even outweigh the possible economic slowdown arising from this fiscal consolidation process. this process must be grounded on prudent macroeconomic projections, involve all tiers of general government and translate into a medium - term plan detailing the government receipt and expenditure measures aimed at ensuring a gradual reduction in the imbalances. this would shore up the sustainability of public finances and bolster the credibility of, and confidence in, economic policies. the fiscal consolidation should also go hand - in - hand with an improvement in the quality of public finances, boosting their contribution to the economy ’ s potential growth. and it must take into account the impact of structural aspects such as population ageing, which will exert upward pressure on public spending on pensions and other expenditure items. at the same time, addressing social imbalances is also essential as increasing inequality could undermine social cohesion and foment social conflict, with adverse repercussions for the security of investments, the incentive to work and opportunities for future generations. 25 grossman ( 1991 ), dijkstra, poelman and rodriguez - pose ( 2020 ), persson and tabellini ( 1994 ), alesina and rodrik and corak ( 2013 ). in recent years, the banco de espana has actively contributed to identifying sources of inequality. one factor that crucially affects productivity is educational inequality. a recent study of ours suggests that differences in educational attainment level are relatively persistent, which may be understood as a system failure insofar as ensuring equality of opportunity is concerned. 26 thus, the average educational attainment level in 2001 among the residents of a specific locality born in 1974 predicts, with a correlation of more than 90 %, the level achieved at the same age ( 27 years ) by the residents of the same locality born 10 years later. 27 this persistence is also seen across generations, with the correlation between the educational attainment levels of parents and their offspring standing close to 35 %, similar to that observed in other countries. 28 thus, an increase in the population ’ s human capital is fundamental not only to increase productivity and convergence with the euro area, but also to ensure that opportunities are more equally distributed across the population. mitigating the adverse effects of the various social vuln

are subject to stricter regulation above certain headcount thresholds. regulatory improvement should be implemented by strengthening two important mechanisms already existing in our legal system. first, the law on market unity establishes mechanisms to protect economic operators that allow them to file complaints. 19 after ten years in force, 575 decisions have been issued. these are concentrated in certain professional, educational and commercial activities and they have generally found in favour of the complainant. in a decentralised country such as spain, which needs different government units to cooperate with one another, these decisions must be taken into consideration by the so - called “ sector committees ”, which have the power to identify good practices and reach consensuses that can be embodied in legislation through, for example, harmonisation laws. second, the public policy assessment law, approved at the end of last year, is intended to incorporate ex ante and ex post assessments into central government legislative processes. this will require the creation of a new appropriately funded state assessment agency. third, with regard to access to public procurement, it is estimated that 12 % of tenders in spain in 2021 were not competitive ( as against an eu average of 6 % ). the literature has highlighted various channels through which public tender awards may be conducive to business growth, investment, innovation and productivity when they are focused on small firms with high growth potential, 20, 21 since they may serve as collateral and thus improve firms ’ access to bank finance. 22 in this respect, one of the aims of the law on business start - ups and growth is to increase the participation of small and medium - sized firms in public tenders. bardhan ( 2020 ), mora - sanguinetti and perez - valls ( 2020 ), lucio and mora - sanguinetti ( 2021 ), lucio and mora - sanguinetti ( 2022 ), mora - sanguinetti ( 2022 ) and mora - sanguinetti, quintana, soler and spruk ( 2023 ). article 26 of the law on market unity provides a specific administrative appeal proceeding for defence of the rights and interests of economic operators by competent authorities. it also provides a procedure for agents to request the national commission on markets and competition to file an appeal for judicial review before the national high court by means of a streamlined process. finally, article 28 allows consumers to inform the market unity secretariat about obstacles and barriers and request a report. ferraz, finan and szerman