Mas-Colell, a powerful economic hard drive

BarcelonaAndreu Mas-Colell (Barcelona, ​​​​1944) is one of the most renowned economists. At the presentation ceremony for the Alexandre Pedrós Prize—the distinguished tax expert of the Barcelona Economic Society of Friends of the Country—held this Tuesday at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona, ​​​​Professor Guillem López Casasnovas, president of the jury, was responsible for remembering him. With him, the award debuts its recognition of a professional career.

When Mas-Colell joined Pompeu Fabra University in the early 1990s, coming from Harvard and Berkeley in the United States, among other top universities, "I had never seen such a powerful economics drive," López Casasnovas recalled. One of the merits of this academic—who also worked in politics as Minister of Universities, Research, and the Information Society under Jordi Pujol, and Minister of Economy under Artur Mas—is his commitment to scientific policy.

In fact, Mas-Colell laid "the foundations of our knowledge and research ecosystem": "If it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't be the country we are today in the field of research," acknowledged the Minister of Economy, Alicia Romero, who also participated in the event with the president of Friends of Friends and former colleagues.

International Academic

Considered the most international of economists, this "wise man with unkempt eyebrows and a confused appearance" (physical features included in the painting by Perico Pastor that he was awarded) is the author of the microeconomics textbook that all economists have been studying for 30 years. When he arrived at the Economics Department at Pompeu Fabra University, "I discovered aMinnesota[as those who studied at the University of Minnesota are known] which, in addition to economics, was a well of cultural wisdom," López Casasnovas recalled.

Mas-Colell took advantage of his speech to highlight his passions, which, beyond family, are economic theory and the tenth aspect of the civic aspect. Trump in the university and research world. Passionate about Barcelona, ​​​​he applauded the phrase of the former president of the Generalitat Pere Aragonès, that in an interview in the ARA this past Sunday He said that "an exclusive nation project is the fastest way to stop being a nation," and endorsed the language pact, since it is the unifying axis.

The economist also asserted that prosperity "is only possible through trade and cooperation with the rest of the world," unlike what Trump advocates. And he explained his "hands": Europe and Barcelona, ​​​​which, in his opinion, should project itself to the world as a European capital with an open economy. "Feet in the Born and facing the world," he summarized. His other obsession is science policy, and the third, public-private collaboration, with a public sector that must learn to act based on trust and the self-responsibility of the private sector.