Alberto Arenas de Mesa (born 5 October 1965) is a Chilean economist, academic, and Socialist politician. He was Chile's Minister of Finance, under the second government of President Michelle Bachelet (2014–2015).[1]
Alberto Arenas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 11 March 2014 – 11 May 2015 | |
| President | Michelle Bachelet |
| Preceded by | Felipe Larraín |
| Succeeded by | Rodrigo Valdés |
| Head of Budget | |
| In office 11 March 2006 – 10 February 2010 | |
| President | Michelle Bachelet |
| Preceded by | Mario Marcel |
| Succeeded by | Sergio Granados |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 October 1965 |
| Party | Socialist Party |
| Spouse | Jacqueline Canales |
| Children | Three |
| University of Chile University of Pittsburgh | |
As a close collaborator of former president Bachelet, he served as Head of Budget during her first administration (2006–2010),[2] as policy chief for her campaign in the 2013 Chilean presidential election, and as Minister of Finance during her second administration, a position he held from March 2014 to May 2015.[3]
He was a part of the team of academics who published a paper on the Chilean Pension Reform, in August 2006.[4]
Family and education
editArenas was born on 5 October 1965,[5] the son of architect and Communist activist Mario Alberto Arenas Pizarro and Mónica Eliana de Mesa. His paternal aunt, Adriana Arenas Pizarro, was married to French sociologist Alain Touraine.[6]
He completed his primary education at the Liceo Experimental Manuel de Salas in Santiago.[7] In 1983, shortly before graduating from secondary school, he joined the Communist Youth of Chile (JJCC), influenced by his father's political involvement.[6]
He later studied economics at the University of Chile, where he served as vice president of his program's student council as a representative of the Popular Democratic Movement (MDP).[7] During his university years, he participated in numerous demonstrations against the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and was arrested on four occasions.[6] In 1987, after the Communist Party of Chile endorsed armed struggle against the regime, he left the Communist Youth and joined the Socialist Party of Chile (PS).[6]
He married Sara Jacqueline Canales Contreras, with whom he had three children.[8][7]
Professional career
editIn 1991, a year after graduating and following a brief period working in the research division of Banco Sud Americano, Arenas joined the Budget Office (Dipres) of the Ministry of Finance as an adviser.[5] In 1993, he received a scholarship to study at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, where he earned a PhD in economics[9] with a dissertation entitled Learning from the Privatization of Chile's Social Security Pension System: Macroeconomic Effects, Lessons, and Challenges.[citation needed]
Upon returning to Chile in 1997, he was appointed head of the Studies Department of the Budget Office,[6] and in 2000 became deputy director for Modernization and Civil Service Affairs within the same agency.[5][6] During this period, he began working with Michelle Bachelet, then Minister of Health in the administration of President Ricardo Lagos.[6]
Between 2000 and 2003, Arenas served on the board of the State Railways Company (EFE) during the Lagos administration.[10] During this period, the Comptroller General's Office reported a number of irregularities within the company.[11]
From 2010 to 2013, he served on the board of directors of Canal 13.[12] At the same time, he worked as a researcher at the Microdata Center of the Department of Economics at the University of Chile.[5][6]
He has also taught in the master's programme in economics jointly offered by Ilades/Georgetown University and the Alberto Hurtado University.[6]
References
edit- ↑ "Alberto Arenas". gobiernodechile.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2014-03-11.
- ↑ "Alberto Arenas, ministro de Hacienda". Radio Cooperativa. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ↑ "Alberto Arenas es el primer ministro en ser removido de Hacienda desde el retorno a la democracia". La Tercera. 11 May 2015.
- ↑ De Mesa, Alberto Arenas; Bravo, David; Behrman, Jere; Mitchell, Olivia; Todd, Petra (2006). "The Chilean Pension Reform Turns 25: Lessons From the Social Protection Survey". Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w12401. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 "El primer gabinete de Michelle Bachelet". Emol. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Alberto Arenas, el estratega detrás de Bachelet". Los Andes. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Cómo llegó Alberto Arenas a ocupar un rol clave en el bacheletismo". Economía y Negocios. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
- ↑ "El verdadero dueño de la billetera fiscal". El Mostrador. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ↑ "Alberto Arenas de Mesa Minister of Finance of Chile". As-Coa. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ↑ "Presidente Lagos nombró nuevo directorio de Ferrocarriles". Emol. 30 November 2002. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ↑ "Cinco hechos de corrupción que impactaron al país antes del caso Penta en los últimos 15 años". Radio Biobío. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ↑ "Alberto Arenas formaliza renuncia a directorio de Canal 13 tras integrarse a comando de Bachelet". La Tercera. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.