Welcome to my website! I am Full Professor of Economics and leader of the Econpoint group at the University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain and president of the World Economy Society. I have lectured at the Universities of Oxford (1993-95 and 2019-20), Carlos III-Madrid (1990-93) and Buenos Aires (1985-88) and have been a Visiting Research Scholar at University of Oxford (2019-20), Cornell (2014-15), European University Institute (2006-07), UMIST-Manchester (1998-99), London School of Economics (1996), Oxford (1993-95), and Michigan University (1992). I have been founder and co-director of the Inter-university Master in Economics and the inter-university PhD in Economics between the universities of the Basque Country, Cantabria and Oviedo from 2005 to 2019. Current research and teaching in the Econpoint group covers the Public Service Economics and Innovation, International Business in Europe, and the International Finance of the Development Banks in Europe and worldwide. Recent leadership and participation in international research projects including: GREENPATHS European Knowledge Hub On Just Transition Pathways - European Union Horizon Europe 2023 -2026, TOKEN -Transformative Impact of Blockchain Technologies in Public Services – European Union H2020 2000-2023 CITADEL -Empowering Citizens to Transform European Public Administrations- European Union H2020 2015-2019, COCOPS –Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future - European Union VII FP 2011-14, The Emergence of Southern Multinationals and their Impact on Europe - COST - IS0905 2010-14 , Infrastructure Finance in Europe - European Investment Bank - EIBURS 2010-15, Financial and Banking Globalization: International Financial Institutions, SANFI - 2013-17. I have been consultant for the United Nations, OECD, European Commission, European Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, European Centre of Public Enterprises and European Institute of Public Administration. I have published in leading journals including: Cambridge Journal or Regions, Economy and Society, Public Management Review, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Global Policy, International Review of Applied Economics, Review of International Political Economy, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Journal of Policy Modeling, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Utilities Policy, Policy and Society, Regional Studies, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Latin American Studies, Annals of Public Cooperative Economics, Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, Intereconomics, Review of European Economic Policy, Public Administration, European Law Journal, Business History, IEEE Access, Health Policy, REM-Journal of World Economy among others
Member of various programmes and commissions of the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education); ANECA (Spanish Agency for Quality Academic Standards) Verification Programme 2008-2013, Research Programmes 2020-2022, AZVO (Croatia Agency for Science and Higher Education) 2013-2022.
Expert working for the ERA (European Research Agency) - 2015-2020, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) - 2021-2023, the European Institute of Public Administration 2022-2023.
CV at a glance
Public services - health, education, utilities, transportation and more - are a key deliverable of government and play a core role in society and the economy, whilst they have been subject to multiple waves of reform by governments. I am interested in how and why governments reform public services and the consequences of these reforms. In recent years, important reforms associated with the financial crisis were the different austerity policies in Europe and the US. Today, we are moving towards a “digital government” - I am currently researching how new technologies, particularly DLT and blockchain, may be disrupting both service delivery and the nature of work of public sector employees, and the consequences of such a transformation. I am also interested in the role of other public organizations, including international public policy organizations, especially the OECD, and public banks, especially the European Investment Bank.
I was initially educated in Economics and Planning and Development, in some of Latin America’s best higher education institutes, - including United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America - and gained four years’ professional public management experience as a young civil servant in Argentina’s democratic transition government. I moved back to Spain after competitively winning a scholarship to study at the nation’s premier provider of education on public management, the National Institute of Public Administration. Combining post-graduate study with lecturing posts and the taking up of the competitively-awarded Andrew W. Mellow Foundation Scholarship at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan, I achieved maximum results when obtaining my PhD from the University of Alcalá in 1992. Since then, I have consolidated my academic position reaching Full Professor at the University of Cantabria from 2011. This has been interwoven with securing competitively-awarded Fellowships at world-class institutions, including “Fleming Fellow” at St Antony’s College, Oxford, “Salvador de Madariaga” at the European University Institute, “Mario Einaudi” Innovation Scholarship at Cornell University, and Spanish Ministry of Education Scholarship at the London School of Economics. Grounded in Economics and Planning, with strong quantitative skills, my research interests lie primarily in economics policy, public management, public sector reform, public policy and development, as evidenced through my track record of publications in leading journals in the field and my leadership in university management and research.
