As someone who plans to study Public Policy and Economics in college, I am very fascinated by political revolutions, questions of constitutional law, and the relationship economics has to the political climate. I've been casually following the story of the Catalan attempt at secession since the situation intensified following the declaration of a referendum for independence in Catalonia this past June. However, with this research project, I was able to delve much deeper into the constitutional and economic questions arising with the budding manifestation of separatist ambitions. Being able to follow a constitutional crisis as it is happening has been highly engaging for me, as studying the interaction of different constitutional interpretations and analyzing the potential economic ramifications of a secession piques my interest and relates to what I want to study later in life. While researching, I first began by studying the Spanish Constitution and the different articles and clauses it contains concerning secession in order to gain a better understanding of how Catalonia would break away from Spain. In researching the constitutionality of a secession, I gained a valuable awareness of the merits of both unionist and separatist arguments. However, as my research question addressed the economic effects of a potential secession, I had to refocus my investigation of the crisis to the economies of Catalonia and Spain as a whole. After doing so, I found information that was more relevant to the question I had asked, making me better able to formulate a specific hypothesis. Researching economic effects of a secession turned out to be difficult because there are no certainties yet. Catalonia has not yet seceded from Spain, and Spain and other countries want a diplomatic solution to keep the country whole. The secession may never happen and Spain might stay in one piece. This uncertainty made researching economic effects difficult because all of the effects are hypothetical. Much of the speculated results I discuss in my paper may very well not happen at all. For example, if Catalonia secedes, Spain and the new Catalan state would divide up public debt, with Spain keeping some and Catalonia taking an indeterminate amount. The amount of Spanish public debt Catalonia may take after separating from Spain would be decided in diplomatic discussions between Catalan and Spanish representatives. If Catalonia takes on more debt than its economy can handle, the future of the new state's economy could be crippled. However, because the amount of money taken on by Catalonia and the secession itself are uncertain, deciding the possible economic changes and the intensity of those changes it would bring becomes difficult.
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