Economics

Part I – Becoming and Economist

As almost every kid, for many of my childhood years I wanted to become an astronaut. However, as I grew older my interests shifted and they became more terrestrial.

I was in sixth grade when I decided that I would like to become an economist. And what is more, an environmental economist, something unheard at that time in my country; I had even decided that I was going to study in Canada. My father's passion for Economics, as well as the strong analytical skills that this field can provide, captivated my teenage attention.

When I first went to the United States in 1991, during my first year of High School, I was fascinated by New York City and I thought that maybe sometime in my life I would be working there.

My dreams were starting to take shape. Instead of studying Economics in Canada, I listened to my parents' advice and stayed at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a newly created university in Barcelona with excellent economists from all over the world as professors.

There I learned the skills that introduced me to the world of Economics, always choosing those courses "I could not study anywhere else but at University", which almost always meant taking the most numeric courses, with a flavor on International Economics. That is how I became a quantitative economist.

While taking a course on Development Economist in my third year of university I became intrigued about the field. Among the course materials, we used the excellent Debraj Ray's book on Development Economics. One day I told my best friend Jordi that I would like to devote a few years of my life working on this topic, together with Environmental Economics. For this reason, I went to the London School of Economics and studied some courses on Development and Environmental Economics, where Professors Reza Arabsheibani and Gautam Sen became my advisors and referees. I was very intrigued in learning how Economics could try to explain some of the problems facing the poorest people and countries, as well as which were the policy actions Economics could offer to address some of these problems.

Part II – Economics in the real world

After finishing my undergraduate studies in Economics I went to New York. I wanted to see how it was to work in one of the most dynamic and fast-paced places in the world. New York was also an excellent place to test my "survival" skills. I was offered the opportunity to spend the summer working at the New York University. There I met Robert and Janet, who became my mentors. Robert gave me the opportunity of having career advice interviews with colleagues working in the fields of development and environment in international organizations in Washington, DC.

Those interviews became key in shaping my future. I became aware of the importance of continuing studying. A year later, in 2000, I graduated from my second degree in Business Administration and I was ready to start a Master in Applied Economic Analysis. I became more interested in the linkages between Development and business, a reason why in 2000 I started to work at IESE Business School. There, and still as a student, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant with some excellent professors who have taught me a great deal in Organizational Behavior, Finance, Economics and, overall, the importance for both corporations and individuals of being responsible and caring citizens.

In fall 2001 I started an internship at The World Bank, an institution whose mission is to fight poverty in developing countries. After finishing the internship I went back to Barcelona, where I continued with my studies in Economics and also worked with Professor Jordi Gual on what became my first published essay in the field of Economics, studying the impact to Catalonia of the EU Enlargement. I collaborated in the chapters related to the economic impact, more precisely on EU structural funds, those funds targeted to the poorest EU regions, and agricultural subsidies.

I also finished my master thesis in November 2002, a simple multivariate analysis to classify European regions according to its innovation potential, under the supervision of Professor Walter Garcia-Fontes, whose patience and support I greatly acknowledge.

By that time I had become aware of the importance of SME-MSB promotion, innovation and knowledge sharing policies to encourage development in poor countries; my interests had shifted from a purely environmental perspective towards a business friendly perspective that took environment and social concerns into account.

In summer 2003 I rejoined a program at The World Bank for AiDA as a business analyst. AiDA is a global repository on development activities that uses XML standards for information exchange in partnership between the Development Gateway, OECD, UNDP, Bellanet and The World Bank, later transferred to the Development Gateway.

I also coordinated the creation of a Catalan version of dgMarket together with COPCA, which can be found at http://licitacions.copca.com. That platform allows Catalan companies to obtain information on tenders and procurement opportunities worldwide, with an emphasis on international organizations.

I actively worked in those projects for a year and by early fall 2004 I joined the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office of The World Bank, coordinating the communications efforts of Knowledge Management team, until summer 2005. At the same time, I was increasingly involved with the web team developing the Spanish version of the The World Bank site, bancomundial.org, first as an on-site consultant and since mid 2005 as an off-site consultant.

In September 2005 I accepted a position as an external adviser for the Government of Catalonia. For a few months I provided guidance on launching several programs for the government to work closer with international organizations.

Now, 18 years after I had chosen I wanted to become an economist, I am still fascinated about the tools Economics has to explain some of our actions, problems and challenges. And, what is more, the policy implications of some of the solutions proposed.