Paying tribute to Ernane Galvêas, FGV opens new site in Rio de Janeiro

On December 20, Fundação Getulio Vargas formally opened the Ernane Galvêas Building. Located in Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro, FGV’s new site is based in a building that for many decades housed Germany’s consulate general and is considered one of the city’s architectural icons. It will now house the Brazilian Institute of Economics (FGV IBRE) and Center for the Development of Public Management and Educational Policy (FGV DGPE).

The new site’s launch event was marked by tributes to the late Ernane Galvêas, who passed away in June of this year. Over the course of his life, he made many contributions to Brazil’s socioeconomic development, as FGV director, finance minister (1980 to 1985), president of the Central Bank (1968 to 1974 and 1979 to 1980) and economic advisor to the National Confederation of Commerce.

Beginning the ceremony, FGV’s president, Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, stressed the legacy left by Ernane Galvêas, who worked until the age of 99, making many significant contributions to Brazil’s development. He also emphasized the building’s historic importance to Rio de Janeiro and said that FGV is proud to be able to help preserve this piece of architectural heritage.

“This building was constructed to be the German embassy and for a long time it was the German consulate in Rio de Janeiro. It will now house FGV IBRE and FGV DGPE. It’s an iconic building for Rio de Janeiro and it will now be used for economic analysis and studies, and to aid the development of public management and education policies in Brazil,” FGV’s president said.

After that, the dean of FGV IBRE, Luiz Schymura, and the dean of FGV EPGE, Rubens Penha Cysne, also paid tribute to Ernane Galvêas. Finally, the winners of the Ernane Galvêas Awards were announced. The aim of this new awards scheme is to recognize and encourage FGV EPGE students to produce academic papers of excellence, highlighting those that present innovative proposals and help us understand economic issues.

Winners:

Doctorate:

• Daniel Teixeira Mesquita: “Essays on monetary policy transmission, banking, and the COVID-19 shock”
• Guilherme Gugelmin Zimmerman: “Essays on Energy and Natural Gas Industry”

Academic Master’s:

• Ana Paula Nothen Ruhe: “Consumption and savings decisions with illiquid assets”
• Pedro Levy Schott Pacheco: “Crop substitution and climate change: estimating farmers’ decisions”

Professional Master’s:

• Glaucio Porto de Oliveira: “The Brazilian sanitation sector from the perspective of the new regulatory framework: regional analysis of provision”
• Jonathan Soares Larangeira (honorable mention): “The impact of Open Finance on life insurance pricing”

Undergraduate:

• Cao Bittencourt Ferreira: “Equivalence scales in Brazil: The country’s cost of living according to the methods of Engel and Rothbarth”
• Diogo Wolff Surd (honorable mention): “Evaluation of the impact of the adoption of genetically modified seeds on the productivity of Brazilian corn”

The Ernane Galvêas Building is located at Rua Presidente Carlos de Campos, 417, Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro.