Meet the winners of the 19th Jesús Antonio Bejarano' Writing Contest organized by Fenadeco

The winners of the 19^th version of the Jesús Antonio Bejarano Writing Contest, organized by Fenadeco were Diego Alejandro Almonacid Lovera, student at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in category A (semesters 5 to 10) and Maicol Leandro Quijano Romero at the Universidad del Tolima in category B (graduation thesis, graduation project, or unpublished and unfinished monographs).

The jury awarded the 'Jesús Antonio Bejarano' Academic Merit Award to Almonacid and Quijano for their papers 'Inequality of opportunities in Colombia' and 'Education and political orientation: an analysis of the 2018 Colombian presidential elections’ respectively.

The purpose of this contest is to further the scientific, cultural, and social development of the country by stimulating interdisciplinary economic research in areas related to economics such as the humanities, anthropology, technology, archeology, education, history, and health. 

Awards

The winner in category A received academic material, a ‘Jesús Antonio Bejarano’ plaque recognizing academic merit, and the publication of his paper in the Fenadeco journal. The winner in category B, in turn, was given the possibility of receiving two scholarships, one for a master’s degree in Economics at the EAFIT University and the other for a doctorate in Business Economics from the ICESI University. He will also receive a Jesús Antonio Bejarano’ plaque in recognition of academic merit and the publication of his article in the Fenadeco journal. In both categories, a monetary recognition in the name of Jesús Antonio Bejarano is offered by Ms. Consuelo Páez Rodríguez, Professor Bejarano's widow.

The team of jurors included Banco de la República officials Dr. Margarita Gáfaro, Branch Office Manager in Cali, and economist Dairo Estrada, among others. In addition, Jose Gabriel Bran and Diego Rodríguez from the Economic Education section participated on behalf of Banco de la República in the virtual event set up to give the winners recognition.

Who was Jesús Antonio Bejarano?

Jesús Antonio Bejarano was a recognized Colombian economist and writer expert in conflict resolution. He was born in 1946 and murdered in Bogotá at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in September 1999. He was a victim of the political violence that the country was undergoing and that he was constantly trying to eradicate by any means.

As an economist from Universidad Nacional, he earned a master's degree in economic development from the University of North Carolina. He was a member of the Colombian Academy of Economic Sciences and a professor at Universidad Nacional , where he became dean of the School of Economic Sciences.

An expert in conflict resolution, he was a peace adviser in the governments of Virgilio Barco and Cesar Gaviria as well as an active participant in negotiations with the guerrilla groups. He was also president of the Sociedad de Agricultores de Colombia (Colombian Farmers’ Society). An analyst and prolific essayist, he produced an extensive body of work with writings on economics, violence and peace, conflict resolution, and a variety of economic science topics over the course of many years.

Outstanding works:

Category A

‘Unequal Opportunities in Colombia’

Summary: Many studies in Colombia have focused on analyzing income inequality and have neglected other types of inequalities that, although less visible, also have a profound impact on the country. This paper focuses on inequality of opportunities, defined as the differentiated access to goods and services essential for human development, on children and adolescents between 5 and 16 years old. In the document inequality of opportunities is measured. The author built an Opportunity Index using the Standardized Cronbach Alpha and a Core Component Analysis. The results are consistent with the literature that study the influence of external circumstances on children´s access to opportunities, such as the per capita income or children´s parents’ level of education. The author also analyses the effect of variables, such as gender or geographical region, in the Opportunity Index. In both cases, these characteristics were found to have a significant impact on opportunities available to children and adolescents in Colombia.

 Category B

'Education and Political Orientation: An analysis of the 2018 Presidential Elections in Colombia'.

Summary: This research studies the relationship between Colombians´ educational levels and their political orientation in the presidential elections of 2018. Using information from the 2018 “Barometer of the Americas” survey. A multinomial logistic model was estimated to assess whether certain educational levels are associated with specific policy orientations. The results suggest that the correlation between education and political orientation is negative, for both the left and the right. That is, that the most educated individuals are less likely to vote for a candidate or party of either ideological position. Thus, education has been found to move people away from the extremes of the political spectrum.