Who is your teacher?

Carlos A. Benito

My Education and Teaching Experience

I have a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. Here at SSU I have been the Chair of the Economics Department and I teach courses on international economics and development economics. Like other professors in my Department, I also teach one or two of our introductory courses. I look at economics as a way to investigate the merits of institutions and policies, but I ground this work on mathematical economics and statistical methods. 

I got my first college degree from and was certified as public accountant by the Universidad de Cuyo, Argentina. Then I completed the course work for a doctoral program in Political Economy at the same University. 

I came with my family to the USA in the year 1969 to study for a Ph.D. After my graduation in 1973, I became an associate researcher and instructor at the University of California, Berkeley until 1983. My field of research was Economic Development in Latin American first, and the Middle East later. 

I began teaching part-time at SSU in 1982 and was appointed a full-time professor in 1990. 

I have also worked in the private business sector. I organized and managed a business in the hospitality industry that I sold in 1988. This experience has  deepened my appreciation for manual and service workers. 

. My Experience as Researcher

I have always complemented my teaching work with applied research, mainly of applied economics.

My dissertation for my degree on Economics in the Cuyo University was an econometric model of the grape-wine sector of Argentina. My dissertation for my Ph. D. in UC, Davis was an econometric model of a local labor market, Humbolt County in California: I investigated the rate of return to human capital and labor supply responses. 

After my graduation as a Ph.D. in agricultural economics in the University of California, Davis, I began working in the field of development economics. When I was appointed a research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, I did research in Mexico about transformation of traditional agriculture. First I investigated issues of transfer of modern practices to peasant farming in Mexico and Central America. Then I worked on the implementation of the land reform in Honduras. Soon the strategy of integrated rural development gained world wide support as a way to reduce rural poverty. This is how I became an adviser for the Organization of American States. My function was to conceive and assess for the OAS the strategy of Integrated Rural Development Projects that dominated the late 1970s in the Third World. Soon I began advising the International Fund for Agricultural Development housed in Rome, Italy. As a consequence of these kind of research I visited all Latin American Countries, the Dominican Republic and the West Indies in the Caribbean. 

Beginning the 1980s, after the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt, I began traveling to Egypt where I assisted economists of the Ministry of Agriculture. We studied issues about food production and consumption in rural Egypt. I took the opportunity to visit and study the ancient cultures of Egypt. In a couple of my trips to the Middle East, I visited Israel where I gave lectures on my empirical research. 

By the late 1980s I began to focus on issues about agricultural sustainability. Under the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation I worked for the Plan Sierra in the Dominican Republic. Then under the sponsorship of the World Resource Institute I built a model to assess the economic viability of organic farming in Chile. 

After the World Debt Crisis of 1982, most Latin American countries began a process of structural adjustments and macroeconomic stabilization. They began moving from protectionism and planned economies toward more open economies based on markets. Gradually I got involved in policy focused research, working for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation. 

While the main objective of these policies for structural adjustments was to induce an efficient type of growth they had some shortcomings. They tended to ignore the social costs of adjustments and chronic poverty. This is how during the earlier 1990s I began working on projects for investing in human capital. Improving the quality of basic education and health care, expanding the opportunities of women, and investing in children. 

To view my papers and lately research click here.

I am also ivolved in engage scholarship. I am interested on maintaining the "green" nature of Northern California. I have conducted few studies about the equestrian economies of Sonoma and Marin Counties. I have also conducted research on the grape-wine sectors of Sonoma and Napa. 

  I have completed a research project about Civic Engagement among Latino Youth in Sonoma County (2003-2004), together with Professor Francisco H. Vazquez.

My Personal History (in process ·) 

I was born in Argentina, at the feet of the Andes, in the grape-wine producing area of that country. My father and mother were also born in Argentina and owned and operated a small general store. During times of recession my father will complement the family income working in his metal shop. Since I was 12 years old I worked in the family store until I got my first paid job. I was 17 years old and I moved to the evening shift of my high school as to be able to work as a full-time book keeper. My four grand parents immigrated from Spain, at the beginning of the 20th century. My grandparents in my father side worked as tenant farmers, producing grapes by the Andes. The father of my mother, was a miner in Spain and when he arrived to Argentina became an independent craft-worker. He was a union and political organizer in the Syndicalist and Libertarian traditions. 

I was the first Benito to go to college thanks to the vision of my abuelo Lorenzo, the effort and love of my hard-working parents, the encouragement of my teachers, and the enthusiastic support of my neighbors (mi barrio). It takes a Village ... While in College I supported myself working as a part-time teacher. I have been teaching since then. I enjoyed my college years and I had a balanced life that included learning time, student union organizing, community services, working, and dancing ... tangos, pasodobles, waltz, rock and roll. 

My View of Economics and my Life-View

I look at Economics as one way of thinking about social issues, one that takes into consideration the scarcity constraint. My personal vision of life, however, does not derive from Economics exclusively. Rather it comes from a long life effort to expand my way of thinking, feeling and relating: to recognize that I am one part within a larger whole and to assume responsibility for my part, to accept with loving-kindness the diversity of life, and to make possible the changes that help all of us to unfold. 

When I judge social issues I use my knowledge about Economics but I also introduce my values. In class I always try to explain when I am using positive economics and when I am shifting toward normative economics and therefore introducing my personal values. I do not subscribe to the idea that economics is a value-free discipline. Indeed, economics is founded on socially constructed theories of values: from labor-value to marginal-value theories. Economics is very helpfull to construct coherent represenations of reality, but policy recommendations are influenced by the values of policy makers.

As part of my way of teaching, I introduce current policy issues and tray to show to you how economists thinki about them. I also value experiential learning, in particular community based service learning.

People that I Admire

Mahatma Gandhi who demonstrated the liberating power of non-violence; Albert Schweitzer who taught that the higher moral value is reverence for life; Charlie Chaplin who fought fascism with the sword of humor; Helen Keller who demonstrated the power of mind over our physical limitations; Martin Luther King who struggled to liberate all us from prejudices; Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta who reminded us the way of human dignity is possible--¡si se puede!. The Dalai Lama who has been teaching to all people and cultures the value of compassion. And many other less known persons, who I had the gift to meet throughout my existence. 

Important Books in my Life

Some books that have impressed my life: The Ecclessiastes, the Gospel according to Matthew, the Bahagvad Gita, the Enneads, the Tao Te Ching, the Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia), The Cloud of Unknowing, Don Quixote (English), Don Quijote (Spanish), Martin Fierro. 

Interesting books that I have read during the last years: The Art of Living in Relationship and Living Consciously by Jorge Waxemberg; Thought as a System and Dialogue-A Proposal by David Bohm; The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, by Thich Nhat Hanh, and The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotions in the Making of Consciousness, by Antonio Damasio. Why Religion Matters by Huston Smith, and The American Soul by Jacob Needlemann. Recently, I have found an interesting web page about the The Way of Egoence.

Most recently I have been reading books and articles about learning theories, civic engagement, and community services. I am interested on the relationship between knowledge, values, and reality:
 

Words of Wisdom and Beauty

Ecce, quam bonum! Psalm 133 

The Sermon of the Mountain (go to Mathew 5) 

Metta Sutra

Francis of Assisi, Spiritual Canticle (The English version comes after the Italian version) 

Popular Wisdom

Music that I Like

Magnificat of J.S. Bach, Symphony No. 7 and No.9 (Coral) of Beethoven. Operas: La Traviata and The Magic Flute. Indian Classical Music and Chants, Sufis' el-Hadras,and Lamas' Chants.

Tangos: Madreselvas, My Buenos Aires Querido and La Cumparsita. Bolero: Besame Mucho. Samba: Brazil. Merengue: Amores de Conuco. Songs: Blowing in the Wind, Amazing Grace, and Gracias a la Vida. 

I also like Country and Spirituals, as well as Folk songs from most traditions. I love music!

My Habitual Life

In the morning, I walk, exercise and reflect. I have granola cereal and a cafe-latte for breakfast.Then I commute from Berkeley to Sonoma State University, in a car pool.

I am a cabinet maker and a painter (yes, I paint the walls of my house, but I also try with water colors). I keep my garden and I make compost. I belong to the community-public garden movement in the Bay Area and I am the coordinator of one of the Berkeley Community Gardens.

My Family

Alicia and I are the parents of  three children, Graciela, Maria-Inés and Pascual, and the grand parents of Analia Isabel. All our children went to college. 

All of them are bilingual (English and Spanish) and two of them trilingual (French). They also learned some Latin in high school. 

I speak English with a "distinct accent". The same happens when I speak Portuguese and Italian, or I use my few words in Arabs. I speak Spanish, however, without any accent (-:
 

Spanish Popular Song

Spanish Version 

English Translation 

Salud, dinero y amor.

El que tenga estas tres cosas,

Que le de gracias a Dios!

Health, money and love.

Whoever these three gifts has,

May he/she thanks God!