José Luis Espert (born 21 November 1961) is an Argentine economist and politician. He is known to be one of the strongest supporters of

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. He was elected National Deputy for the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

in the 2021 Argentine legislative election. He was the founder and leader of the

Avanza Libertad Avanza Libertad (; AL), originally founded in 2019 as Frente Despertar (; FD), was an Argentine right-wing political coalition. Renamed in 2020, Avanza Libertad had legal status in the Buenos Aires Province. Ideologically, it is libertarian cons ...

coalition, and in 2023 he briefly became a member of

Juntos por el Cambio (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

. In 2024 he joined

La Libertad Avanza La Libertad Avanza (LLA; Spanish for "Liberty Advances") is a political coalition and party in Argentina. LLA was formed as an electoral alliance in 2021, and as a nationwide party in 2024. It has been described as conservative and ultraconser ...

. Espert supports

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

, proposes to deepen the commercial opening with the world, and attacks

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

for what he describes as its limitations to this. He is against the "corporations that devour the country"; he proposes that the country "change the system for another". With his ideology, he seeks to position himself as the only representative of

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

. Espert considers himself a "common citizen", criticizes

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

and

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, and academic who served as President of Argentina from 2019 to 2023. He was also the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 2003 to 2008. His tenure as Cabin ...

, and claims to be the sole opposition figure to Kirchnerism.

Education and career

Espert was born in

Pergamino Pergamino () is an Argentine city in the Buenos Aires Province, Province of Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 104,985 inhabitants as per the and is the administrative seat of its county, Pergamino Partido. Its UN/LOCODE is ARPGO. Histor ...

to a Catalan father and an Argentine mother. His father, who died in 2018, was a prominent businessman linked to the rural sector. Espert studied economics at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

(UBA), later earning a master's degree in economics at the University of CEMA (UCEMA), and a master's in

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

at the

National University of Tucumán The National University of Tucumán (; UNT) is an Education in Argentina, Argentine national university located in Tucumán Province and the largest in Argentina's northwest region. Founded on 25 May 1914 in San Miguel de Tucumán, access to the ...

. He started working at the Miguel Ángel Broda firm where he was a

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

analyst, later to become a chief economist at the same institution. He also worked as an econometrist at Estudio Arriazu firm and was a partner at Econométrica S.A. In 2000, he founded his own firm, Estudio Espert, which offers macroeconomic consultancy and Asset Management. He is a member of the Argentine Association of Political Economy (Asociación Argentina de Economía Política). He was Econometrics professor at UBA and Public Finances professor at UCEMA. He is a columnist in different newspapers, such as ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'' and ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' from Uruguay. In 2015, he was interviewed by José del Río at a ''

'' program, which became the second-most viewed interview of the year.

Politics

He is very critical of the economic policies of the second presidency of

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

and the governments of

Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecuti ...

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Governor of Sa ...

, Cristina Fernández and

. In December 2018 he officially launched his presidential campaign for the

2019 Argentine general election General elections were held in Argentina on 27 October 2019, to elect the president of Argentina, members of the national congress and the governors of most provinces. The Peronist, left-wing Frente de Todos ticket of Alberto Fernández, forme ...

. Espert's proposals consist of lowering public spending, forming an agency similar to the US Drug Control Administration to combat drug trafficking, lowering taxes, decriminalizing personal

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

use, decriminalizing abortion and reforming the education system through school vouchers. He opposes industrial promotion regimes and believes that the

right to strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became c ...

has gone too far, harmed even the worker himself. Therefore, he seeks a labor, tax and state reform in general. He also showed himself in favor of privatizing inefficient state companies and the retirement system, to turn it into an individual capitalization system such as in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Espert signed the '' Madrid Charter'', a document drafted by the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Spanish political party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of

Ibero-America Ibero-America (, ) or Iberian America is generally considered to be the region in the Americas comprising countries or territories where Spanish or Portuguese are predominant languages (usually former colony, territories of Spain or Portugal). Sp ...

involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime".

Electoral history

Executive

Legislative

Books

* ''Argentina Devoured'' (La Argentina Devorada) (2017) * ''The Complicit Society'' (La Sociedad Cómplice) (2019) * ''Invisible Chains'' (Cadenas Invisibles) (2021)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espert, José Luis Argentine people of Catalan descent Argentine libertarians Argentine economists Libertarian economists Argentine anti-communists 1961 births Living people University of Buenos Aires alumni People from Pergamino Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Argentine deputies 2023–2025 Argentine deputies 2021–2023 Leaders of political parties in Argentina Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires