Ricardo López Murphy

Ricardo Hipólito López Murphy (Adrogué, BA, 10 August, 1951) is an Argentine economist and politician.

He attended the National University of La Plata, where he was awarded the title of "Licenciado en Economía" (a degree in Economics comprising four years of study) in 1975. He then went on to get his Master's degree in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1980. His professional career included being a university professor, a consultant and advisor to companies, international investors and financial institutions in Argentina and Latin America, such as the IMF, the World Bank, the CEPAL, and the IADB. He also was Chief Economist at the FIEL economic think-tank in ArgentinaChicago Maroon, 29 April 2003, [http://maroon.uchicago.edu/news/articles/2003/04/29/university_alumnus_l.php University alumnus loses bid for Argentine presidency] .] .

In 1999, he entered politics when he was appointed Minister of Defense as a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR). He remained in this position until 2001 when he was briefly took the position of Minister of Economy in the government of Argentina [BBC News, 5 March 2001, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1203135.stm Argentina: Appointment of Lopez Murphy welcomed] .] . He was fired after 8 days for presenting a fiscal tightening project aimed at preventing the 2001 economic crisis (having little political support from the president, Fernando de la Rúa).

In 2002, he founded his political party Recreate for Growth and ran for the presidency in 2003, finishing third behind Carlos Menem and Néstor Kirchner, with 16.3% of the popular vote. Recently he teamed with Mauricio Macri to create a new center-right coalition called Republican Proposal (PRO), which tacitly supported his unsuccessful second bid to the presidency in the 2007 presidential election. López Murphy did poorly, gaining just 1% of the vote, although PRO did better in provincial and congressional elections.

He is married with three children. In the media López Murphy is often referred to as "the Bulldog", a nickname he has come to embrace himself [Página/12, 9 January 2005, [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-45847-2005-01-09.html El bulldog no pega una] .] [La Nación, 16 September 2005, [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/739252 "Nunca más un poder cómplice del delito"] .] .

References

External links

* [http://www.recrearargentina.org Recreate for Growth]
* [http://www.pro.com.ar Republican Proposal]