Gabriel Calzada Alvarez

Gabriel Calzada Alvarez

Bio: Gabriel is president of UFM, the pioneering free-market university founded in 1971 in Guatemala. He is current president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and board member of the Mont Pelerin Society and Rising Tide Foundation. In his native Spain, he was founding president of Juan de Mariana Institute, a think-tank that has gained international relevance for the impact of its innovative research and, two-time recipient of Atlas Network’s Templeton Freedom Award. His 2009 study on the negative impact of the Spanish government’s promotion of “green jobs” reverberated around the world. In Spain, subsidies in place since 1996 were reversed. The study—featured on Fox News, Glenn Beck, and John Stossel—along with Gabriel’s testimony before the U.S. Congress helped bury that initiative.  He holds a doctorate in economics from Rey Juan Carlos University in Spain, and has published over 1000 articles in national and international media. He has served as professor of economics at IE University and Rey Juan Carlos University. Gabriel also specializes in environmental and energy economics, the Austrian business cycle, and defense economics. He is passionate about cinematography and teaches a class in cinematographic language at UFM’s film school. He spends his weekends adventuring along the back roads of Guatemala with his wife Karen, three daughters, and two border collies.

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