Gustavo Franco

Gustavo Franco (born April 10, 1956 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian economist.

Son of Maria Isabel Barbosa de Barroso Franco and Guilherme Arinos Lima Verde de Barroso Franco, who was a friend and assistant of President Getúlio Vargas, and also a member of the first board of Directors of the Brazilian National Development Bank, BNDES.

Gustavo Franco received a bachelor's (1975–1979) and master's (1983) degree in economics from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). His M. A. thesis received the prestigious "Prêmio BNDES de Economia" for M. A. thesis in economics in 1983, and was later published as a book titled "Reforma monetária e instabilidade durante a transição republicana" ("Monetary reform during the republican transition").

Franco earned his Ph.D Degree at Harvard in 1986, with a dissertation on hyperinflations in the 1920s in Europe (Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Poland). This work was awarded the "Prêmio Haralambos Simionides" in 1987, for the best Ph.D thesis or book in economics by the ANPEC, Associação Nacional de Centros de Pós Graduação em Economia (National association of graduate studies in economics).

Returning to Brazil in 1986, as an assistant professor at the [Departamento de Economia da PUC do Rio de Janeiro] (economics department at PUC-Rio), Franco worked as teacher, researcher and consultant from 1986 to 1993, specializing in inflation stabilization policies, economic history, and international economics. He published extensively during the period, including many articles in peer-reviewed journals, and books, such as: Foreign direct investment and industrial restructuring: issues and trends (co-authored with Winston Fritsch), published (also in French) by the Development Centre Studies, OECD Development Centre, OECD, Paris, 1991; and "A Década Republicana: o Brasil e a economia internacional - 1888/1900" (The Republican Decada: Brazil and the international economy, 1888–1900), published by IPEA-INPES in the series PNPE nº 24. Rio de Janeiro, 1991.

Between 1993 and 1999, Franco was active in public service. He was Deputy Secretary of Economic Policy at the Finance Ministry for a few months before moving to the Central Bank of Brazil as the Deputy Governor responsible for International Affairs (1993–1997), and later as the Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil (1997–1999). During these years Franco received many awards, including "Economista do Ano 1997" (Economist of the Year, 1997), presented by the Ordem dos Economistas (National Economists Association), and “Central Banker of the year, 1998”, presented by Euromoney, September 1998.

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