Spain's rural NPCs keep dreaming, no matter what's hitting them (or what's coming)
An analysis of why many people in rural Spain still live as if it were 2005, ignoring inflation, the crisis and the new geopolitics. Economic denial and the information gap.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Economic denial in emptied-out Spain: living in 2005 while the world falls apart
In a village in rural Spain, a family gathering reveals a troubling phenomenon: those present believe everything is fine, that prices haven't gone up, that the pandemic was made up and that Chinese industry doesn't affect them. It's not an isolated case. It's the behaviour of the economic "NPC": people who, despite having lost jobs during the ELbichito crisis or watching their pensions lose purchasing power, maintain an unshakeable faith that the future will be better. The paradox is that this attitude is not only irrational, it also feeds the bubble of optimism that many analysts have been pointing out for years.
The profile of the rural optimist: data against intuition
While macroeconomic indicators show persistent inflation, a housing crisis and a geopolitical restructuring that leaves Europe in a fragile position, in certain settings public perception remains stuck in 2005. According to the account of someone at the family party, residents of small towns reject any evidence to the contrary. Comments about housing prices, supermarkets or job losses are met with indifference or denial. This cognitive bias is not new, but it intensifies the further from urban centres people live.
Warring generations: the role of grandparents in the information bubble
The argument heats up when the role of grandparents is examined. Some argue that the grandparent-grandchild bond is superficial and that older people are only interested in their own children. Others argue that the relationship can be deep, but that the information gap is unbridgeable: grandparents get their news from traditional media and reject alternative sources. The result is that the young, more exposed to economic reality through the internet and the labour market, clash head-on with that idyllic worldview.
Related threads in the forum
In a village in rural Spain, a family gathering reveals a troubling phenomenon: those present believe everything is fine, that prices haven't gone up, that the pandemic was made up and that Chinese industry doesn't affect them. It's not an isolated case. It's the behaviour of the economic "NPC": people who, despite having lost jobs during the ELbichito crisis or watching their pensions lose purchasing power, maintain an unshakeable faith that the future will be better. The paradox is that this attitude is not only irrational, it also feeds the bubble of optimism that many analysts have been pointing out for years.
The profile of the rural optimist: data against intuition
While macroeconomic indicators show persistent inflation, a housing crisis and a geopolitical restructuring that leaves Europe in a fragile position, in certain settings public perception remains stuck in 2005. According to the account of someone at the family party, residents of small towns reject any evidence to the contrary. Comments about housing prices, supermarkets or job losses are met with indifference or denial. This cognitive bias is not new, but it intensifies the further from urban centres people live.
Warring generations: the role of grandparents in the information bubble
The argument heats up when the role of grandparents is examined. Some argue that the grandparent-grandchild bond is superficial and that older people are only interested in their own children. Others argue that the relationship can be deep, but that the information gap is unbridgeable: grandparents get their news from traditional media and reject alternative sources. The result is that the young, more exposed to economic reality through the internet and the labour market, clash head-on with that idyllic worldview.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (9 replies).
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