pedro schwartz girón

Politician, economist and jurist. Son and brother of diplomats. Studied Law degree at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid (1957).

After being banned from the diplomatic service for his political activities, despite having passed the competitive examination, he obtained a doctorate in law from the UCM (1966), having ompleted another doctoral thesis in Political Science at the London School of Economics, on John Stuart Mill (1965). In London he came into contact and collaborated with economists such as Lionel Robbins or philosophers such as Karl Popper, whom Schwartz himself considers to be his teacher. He also studied for a Master’s degree in Economics at the LSE in London

(1972).

After his return to Spain, he worked in the Research Department of Banco Urquijo, before taking up a post in the Research Department of the Banco de España (1967). He won the chair of History of Economic Doctrines at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. Since then, he has worked as Professor at the Complutense University (1970-1992), the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (1992-2003) and, currently and since 2003, at the San Pablo-CEU University of Madrid.

In 2003 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. In the same year, he was awarded the King Jaime I Prize. Since January 2012, he has held the post of President of the Economic and Social Council of Madrid. Politically, he founded and led the small Unión Liberal, later Partido Liberal, in 1983. On behalf of this party, in 1982 he obtained a seat in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, where he was the spokesman for the Economy Committee for the Popular Coalition, of which UL was a member, during the 2nd Legislature

(1982-1986). Currently, he maintains an intense promotion and dissemination of liberal ideas through the Juan de Mariana Institute.