The BCRA Launches the 13th Edition of the “Dr. Raúl Prebisch” Award

Students, young graduates, and PhD economists are called to participate in the 13th edition of the "Dr. Raúl Prebisch" Economic Research Annual Award— which is given in honor of one of the most outstanding economists in Argentine history and seeks to encourage research on monetary, macroeconomic, financial and banking issues.

The 2020 edition received a record number of papers from various universities, which confirms the importance of the academic activities promoted by this institution.

The participating categories in 2021 are as follow:

• University Students: students of Economics or related studies at public and/or private universities throughout the country.

• Young Professionals: with no more than five years as graduates in Economics or related studies.

• PhD Thesis in Economics: written by graduates from Argentine universities and passed in 2020 or 2021.

Applicants under the “University Students” and “Young Graduates” categories are required to submit papers on novel topics dealing with theoretical or empirical central banking at local or international level.

In the “PhD Thesis” category, priority will be given to papers whose novel topics—of either local or international, theoretical, or empirical concern—are relevant and pertinent to the objectives of the BCRA.

The jury of the "Dr. Raúl Prebisch" Award will be composed of BCRA’s authorities and guests with a distinguished academic career. A first and a second prize will be awarded in the “University Students” and “Young Graduates” categories, and a first prize in “PhD Thesis in Economics”.

Papers will be received from early March to June 30. For uploading your files click here.

The awarded papers will be posted on the BCRA website and eventually considered for publication in the Ensayos Económicos (Economic Essays) journal.

For enquiries about the Award, write to "premio.invest@bcra.gob.ar or call (011) 4348-3582.

Dr. Raúl Prebisch

Dr. Prebisch was a pioneer of the Latin American structuralist thought in the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). By the end of the 1940s, he created a number of economic categories which are still essential to understand the challenges that our economies face today: the exchange between core and periphery and its implications on the economic cycle; foreign restriction as the main limiting factor to sustainable growth; need to diversify the productive structure in order to overcome foreign bottleneck; role of the terms of trade; higher income elasticity of imports in peripheral countries; and, finally, the trend towards divergence between developed and underdeveloped countries if these structural problems are not solved. Prebisch has a special place in the history of the BCRA. He was one of the leading figures to promote the bill whereby the BCRA was created in 1935, holding the position of first General Manager until 1943.

February 17, 2021.