Luis Garicano facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Luis Garicano
Garicano in 2022
Member of the European Parliament for Spain
In office 2 July 2019 – 1 September 2022
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 57–58) Valladolid, Spain
Political party	Citizens (2015–2022)
Education	University of Valladolid (BA) College of Europe (MA) University of Chicago (MA, PhD)

Luis Garicano Gabilondo (born 1967) is a Spanish economist and politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022. During this time, he was also a vice president for two important European political groups: Renew Europe and the ALDE Party.

Before becoming a politician, Luis Garicano was a professor. He taught strategy and economics at IE Business School in Madrid and at the London School of Economics (LSE). After leaving the European Parliament, he went back to teaching. He became a visiting professor at Columbia Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2023, he returned to the LSE as a full professor in the School of Public Policy.

Early Life and Studies

Luis Garicano was born in Valladolid, Spain. He went to the San José School, a Jesuit school, in his hometown.

University Education

Garicano studied at the University of Valladolid, where he earned degrees in economics (in 1990) and Law (in 1991). He then continued his studies in Europe, getting a master's degree in European economic studies from the College of Europe in Belgium in 1992.

He later moved to the United States and earned another master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 1995. Three years later, in 1998, he completed his doctorate (PhD) in economics from the same university. His main advisor there was Sherwin Rosen, a famous economist. He also learned from Gary Becker and Kevin M. Murphy, who were key thinkers in the idea of human capital. This idea suggests that the quality and education of workers are very important for a country's economic growth.

Teaching and Research

After getting his doctorate, Garicano started teaching at the Booth School of Business. He studied how knowledge works within job markets. He became a full professor there in 2006. During his time in Chicago, he also taught as a visiting professor at other well-known universities like Sloan School of Management and London Business School.

In 2007, he won the Banco Herrero Foundation Award for the best Spanish economist under 40. In 2008, he moved to the LSE in London. He became a professor of economics and strategy and helped start a new management department. At the opening of this new department, after he spoke about the 2008 financial crisis, Queen Elizabeth II famously asked him: "Why did nobody see the crisis coming?"

At the LSE, he also created and led a master's program in economics and management. In 2017, he joined the Business School of IE University as a professor. There, he also directs the Center for the Digital Economy, which studies how digital technology affects business and society.

Economic Work

Luis Garicano has also worked as an economist for the European Commission and for the consulting company McKinsey & Company. His research mainly focuses on how companies work, how productive they are, and how new technologies change things. He also looks at topics like inequality and economic growth.

One of his early ideas was that the way companies are organized (with different levels of management) helps them manage knowledge and allows people to specialize in their jobs. He also explored how different technologies, like information technology and communication technology, can affect how companies are set up and how wealth is shared.

Public Involvement

For many years, Luis Garicano has actively supported big changes to Spain's economy and public services, like the job market, healthcare, and pension systems. He often writes articles and shares his opinions in major newspapers like the Financial Times and El País.

Promoting Economic Ideas

In 2009, he started a blog called "Nada Es Gratis" (Nothing Is Free). The goal was to share economic ideas based on facts and research. This blog has become a very popular economics blog in Spanish. In 2011, he and other experts published a book with the same name, suggesting ways to improve Spain's economy.

In 2012, he was part of a group of 11 experts who worked on reforming Spain's university system. In 2014, he wrote his first solo book, El dilema de España (Spain's Dilemma). In this book, he argued that Spain needed to make important choices about its future. He suggested changes to education and government to help the country grow and avoid problems like the 2008 financial crisis.

Garicano has also been a leading economist pushing for changes to Europe's financial system. He helped create a plan called European Safe Bonds (ESBies). This idea was about creating new financial products that could help banks become safer and less connected to their home governments' financial health. The European Commission later adopted a similar proposal.

Political Career

On February 8, 2015, Luis Garicano announced that he was joining politics. He became a member of Ciudadanos, a center-right liberal party in Spain. He quickly became the party's chief economist.

Shaping Economic Policy

He was in charge of writing the party's economic plans for the 2015 and 2016 general elections. He helped create important ideas for Ciudadanos, such as a Spanish version of the American "earned income tax credit" (a way to help low-income workers) and the "single contract" (a plan to make job contracts fairer for everyone). His work on the party's program is summarized in his book Recuperar el Futuro (Reclaiming the Future), which he wrote with Toni Roldán.

Garicano was also a key person in helping Ciudadanos become a more liberal party in 2017. In December 2016, he was named Vice-President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. He was part of the "Team Europe" that led the ALDE party's campaign for the 2019 European elections.

Work in the European Parliament

As a Member of the European Parliament, Garicano worked on important proposals. He suggested ways to improve Europe's banking system and a plan for a "carbon border adjustment mechanism" to help fight climate change.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he played a big role in shaping Europe's economic response. His ideas for a European plan to protect jobs (called SURE) and a fund to help countries recover (called NextGen EU) were later adopted by the European Union. He helped negotiate the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which was a major part of Europe's recovery plan. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he was also one of the main voices calling for Europe to stop buying Russian oil and gas.

Luis Garicano left the European Parliament in September 2022.

See also

In Spanish: Luis Garicano para niños