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Xavier Sala-i-Martin

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Consistently ranked among the most-cited economists in the world

Sala-i-Martin earned his Llicenciatura (degree) from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1985 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1990, both in economics. In addition to working at Columbia, he has been a professor at Yale University, Harvard University, and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (which he still visits for a term every year). He is also an Affiliated Professor at the...

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... Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.

Sala-i-Martin is consistently ranked among the most-cited economists in the world for works produced in the 1990s. His works include the topics of economic growth, development in Africa, monetary economics, social security, health and economics, classical-liberal thinking (with his book "Liberal economics for non-economists and non-liberals") (the "liberal" in the title should be understood in the classic liberal/libertarian sense), and convergence. He has constructed the best estimate to date of the World Distribution of Income, which he has then used to estimate poverty rates and measures of inequality. The conclusions of this study challenged the conventional wisdom in two dimensions. First, the United Nations and the World Bank used to believe that, although poverty rates were falling, the total number of poor people was increasing. Sala-i-Martin claimed that both were falling. Second, the United Nations and the World Bank used to believe that individual income inequalities were on the rise. Sala-i-Martin claimed they were not.

He co-wrote the textbook Economic Growth with Robert Barro. He also is a columnist for the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia.

Sala-i-Martin is the president of the Economic Commission of the FC Barcelona. He was the President of the Club during the 2006 Electoral Process.

Sala-i-Martin is the founder of "Umbele: A Future for Africa," a non-profit organization that promotes economic development in Africa, as well as of the nonprofit organization "CEOs Without Borders."

Sala-i-Martin is the author of the World Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum, an index that ranks more than 120 countries by their level of economic competitiveness.

Known for his colorful personality and wardrobe Sala-i-Martin has been recognized with a "Distinguished Teacher in Graduate Economics" award 3 times, both at Columbia and at Yale, with the King Juan Carlos I prize 2004 (a biannual prize given to the best economist in Spain and Latin America), and the Lenfest Prize 2006 awarded to the best teacher at Columbia University.