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The pandemic has led to cash being replaced by card payments, as shown by an analysis using anonymised internal CaixaBank data. This substitution effect is seen both at the aggregate level and at the sector level, particularly in purchases of food and durable goods.

It seemed like this time was different. Historically, the European project has advanced reluctantly, seeking to make virtue of necessity. To a large extent, the broad European institutional fabric has been shaped in response to events, following long and tense negotiations. In contrast, the measures taken since the start of the pandemic, such as the Next Generation EU economic stimulus programme, which is of a magnitude never before seen in the Old Continent and has been adopted relatively quickly, or the ECB’s unwavering action, invited optimism. It seemed that this time Europe was shifting gear and taking some initiative.

Having analysed in the previous articles the digital needs of our economy and the policies proposed in order to meet those needs, in this article we address the impact that NGEU will represent in quantitative terms for the digital transformation. Before embarking on the numerical exercise, however, it is essential to understand the importance of digital technologies as well as the characteristics that usually define them.

In our latest article on the NGEU, we answer the main questions about the European Union's increased debt issuance and its impact on financial markets.

CaixaBank’s internal data allow us to assess in detail which groups are particularly suffering as a result of the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and to what extent public sector transfers are proving effective in protecting them.

The new technology restrictions that the US has imposed on China represent an escalation of the decoupling policy pursued by the current US Administration. Although the distancing between the two powers has a long history, under Trump’s presidency it has become a fully-fledged conflict.

European countries have announced a large number of fiscal measures to cushion the blow of the pandemic. In 2020 the fiscal impulse will be similar across the major countries but the differences lie in the automatic and discretionary components of fiscal policy in each state.