Another edition of Economia Viva, a unique conference panel that invites national and international economists, government representatives, entrepreneurs, professors, and researchers to discuss and reflect on some of the most pressing issues of nowadays, finally came to an end.
The third edition of Economia Viva began on February 19th with a short welcoming speech from professor Daniel Traça, Dean of Nova School of Business & Economics, and João Matias, President of Nova SBE Students’ Union – the organization that, alongside the Nova Economics Club, was responsible for yet another pressing and relevant conference cycle. The first discussion panel had “Looking Beyond the Wildfires: our Forest” as the main subject and invited speakers related to that topic – such as Cidália Rosa Ferreira (Mayor of Marinha Grande), Tiago Oliveira (President of the Mission Structure for the installation of the Integrated Management System of Rural Fire), and Clemente Manuel Pedro Vicente Nunes (Chairman of the Implementation Agreement IETS of the International Energy Agency) – to discuss the repercussions of the wildfires that devastated the country.
On the following day, Inês Drumond (Deputy Head of in the Financial Stability Department of Banco de Portugal) and Miguel Faria e Castro (Economist at the Research Division of the Federal Bank of St. Louis) joined Professors Pedro Lains and Pedro Brinca to debate, in a session entitled “10 years After Lehman”, the world economic scenario after the Lehman bankruptcy.
On February 22nd, Maria Luís Albuquerque (former Minister of Finance), Fernando Rocha Andrade (former Secretary of State for Taxes), Professor Susana Peralta, and Luís Belo (Head of Taxes in Products, Services Utilities & Resources at Deloitte) managed to put a lot of different people from academia together to discuss “What Taxes Should the Portuguese People Pay?”. In what was one of the most sought out conferences, all those present reflected on financial rights and the taxes the Portuguese people have to pay having as a comparison other countries in the EU. The conference cycle continued with a debate on the future and inequality of a jobless market. To discuss this subject Professors Pedro Martins and Raquel Varelas were invited, as well as Markus Jäntti (Economist) and João Vasconcelos (former Secretary of State of Industry).
The last day was closed by two equally important subjects – “Participation and Democracy?” and “Does Growth Have a Future in Europe?” – Professors José Tavares e Ana Espírito Santo, Pedro Magalhães (researcher at ICS), and Vítor Bento (Chairman of the Board at SIBS) were the invited speakers to discuss the first topic. For the last conference of the last day, Mário Centeno (Minister of Finance and President of the Eurogroup) and André Sapir (Economist) were the chosen ones to reflect on Europe’s stability and economic future, encouraging future economists to think about several different civic and social responsibility issues.
Taking place for the first time in Nova SBE and the UNL Rectory, the 3rd edition of Economia Viva welcomed several guests from outside the Nova SBE community and it established itself once again as a crucial event where different insights and ideas take place to impact today’s society. Check bellow some of its poignant moments.