Five great masters and the economic modernization of Spain in the twentieth century

The objective of this cycle of conferences which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid is to trace the influence of five great teachers – Valentín Andrés Álvarez, José Castañeda, José Luis Sampedro, Enrique Fuentes Quintana and Luis Ángel Rojo - in the institutionalization of economic studies, the promotion of research based on new theoretical, statistical and econometric tools, and in the modernization of the Spanish economy.  In the latter, the fact that these five teachers combined their academic work with their work in different official institutions -such as the Ministries of Finance, Commerce and Economy, the Bank of Spain or the Foreign Bank of Spain- which decisively contributed to the execution of reforms that finally allowed Spain to join the European Union in 1986 and, subsequently, the European Monetary System. The lecture series begins with one about the origins of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences, led by Professor Juan Velarde Fuertes, who was a student of its first promotion. It was this faculty that embraced the five teachers who are the subject of the remaining five conference. The speakers are advanced disciples of the five selected economists and, in turn, masters in their own right, who have contributed to the training of numerous economists who currently play an outstanding role in various teaching and research centers, as well as in different public entities and private companies.