Xavier Sala-i-Martin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Xavier Sala i Martín
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| Born | June 17, 1962 Cabrera de Mar, Catalonia, Spain
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| Field | Macroeconomics |
| School or tradition |
Neo-classical economics |
| Doctoral advisor |
Robert J. Barro N. Gregory Mankiw |
| Contributions | Economic growth Libertarianism |
| Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Xavier Sala i Martín is a well-known Spanish economist. He is a professor of economics at Columbia University in the United States. He has also taught at other famous universities like Yale University and Harvard University. In Spain, he taught at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Xavier Sala i Martín was born on June 17, 1962, in Cabrera de Mar, a town in Catalonia, Spain. He studied economics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, finishing his degree in 1985. Later, he went to Harvard University and earned his PhD in economics in 1990.
What an Economist Does
Xavier Sala i Martín is one of the top economists who studies how countries grow richer over time. This is called economic growth. He is often listed among the most-cited economists in the world. This means many other economists read and use his ideas in their own work.
His work covers many interesting topics, such as:
- How economies grow.
- Helping countries in Africa develop.
- How money works in an economy.
- Ideas about social security and health economics.
- How different countries' economies become more similar.
- Ideas about classical liberal thinking, which focuses on freedom and individual choice.
Understanding Poverty and Inequality
One of his important projects was to estimate how wealth is shared around the world. He looked at how many people live in poverty and how much income inequality there is. His findings were different from what some big organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank believed.
- He suggested that not only were poverty rates falling, but the total number of poor people was also decreasing.
- He also claimed that differences in individual incomes were not increasing, which was a new idea at the time.
Books and Global Competitiveness
Xavier Sala i Martín has written important textbooks about economic growth. One is called Apuntes de Crecimiento Economico. He also co-wrote Economic Growth with Robert Barro, another famous economist.
He also helped create the Global Competitiveness Index. This index is used by the World Economic Forum to rank countries. It shows how well countries are doing in terms of their economic strength and ability to compete globally. Since 2004, this index has ranked many countries, helping us understand their economic health.
Other Activities
Beyond his academic work, Sala i Martín has been involved in several other interesting activities.
FC Barcelona
From 2004 to 2010, he was a board member and treasurer for the famous football club FC Barcelona. He even served as the club's president for a short time during the election period in 2006.
Helping Africa
He is the founder of Umbele: A Future for Africa. This is a non-profit organization. It works to help improve economic development in countries across Africa.
Media Work
Xavier Sala i Martín is also a columnist for the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. He appears weekly on the Catalan radio station RAC 1 and on the television show Divendres. He has also contributed to CNN. He supports his home region of Catalonia.
Prizes and Recognition
Xavier Sala i Martín has received many awards for his teaching and economic work.
- He has been named a Distinguished Teacher in Graduate Economics three times at Columbia and Yale Universities.
- In 2004, he won the King Juan Carlos I Prize. This award is given every two years to the best economist in Spain and Latin America.
- In 2006, he received the Lenfest Prize, which recognizes the best teacher at Columbia University.
- In 2017, a UK company called Richtopia listed him as one of the 100 Most Influential Economists in the world.
Works
- Sala-i-Martin, Xavier; Pinkovsky, Maxim (March 2010). African poverty is falling ... much faster than you think!, NBER Working Paper Nr. 15775, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
See also
In Spanish: Xavier Sala i Martín para niños
