Former Argentine presidential candidate Ricardo López Murphy on rationality as the basis for a new institutional environment

Abstract

Executive Overview Ricardo Lopez Murphy, an economist by education, has become a politician by trade. In his early college days, after long hours of study, he exercised his political leadership skills at Juventud Radical de la Universidad de La Plata, a student political body. Ricardo Lopez Murphy then earned a master of science degree in economics at the University of Chicago. As an economist he had a career in academia. He did research at the Fundacion de Investigaciones Economicas LatinoAmericanas (FIEL), an Argentine economics think-tank, where he became chief economist. He also taught at Universidad de La Plata, Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Universidad de San Andres. He has been a columnist in various leading newspapers, including Argentina's Ambito Financiero and Uruguay's El Pay's. Mr. Murphy was Defense Minister and Economy Minister during the presidency of Fernando de la Rua. He renounced his leadership position at Union Civica Radical, where he had conducted his political activities since hi...