Carmelo Mesa-Lago received his PhD in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in 1968. He joined the faculty of the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh in 1967, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. He served as the 1974-1986 Director of Center for Latin American Studies at Pitt. He was named Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Latin American Studies in 1980. He was a member of the US National Academy of Social Insurance, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the Editorial Board of International Social Security Review and several other academic journals.
Why did you select economics as your field?
In Havana, I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Law and later a Doctorate degree in Law specializing on social security at the University of Madrid. After founding the Bank of Social Insurances in Cuba and doing some work, I realized that the law discipline did not provide the tools to go deep enough in the analysis of social-security issues. Coming to the USA in 1961, I completed a Master of Arts in Economics at the University of Miami and then a Ph.D. at Cornell University with a specialization on economics of social security. The combination of the two disciplines (rare in the field) has been immensely helpful in my research and consulting internationally in 39 countries around the world.
What were your greatest successes in your research career? Any paper or finding you are especially proud of?
I have published 95 books or technical reports and more than 300 scholarly articles or chapters in books, in nine languages and 34 countries. My major contribution to social security has been to prove that the replacement of public social security programs by privatized pensions and health care have resulted in stagnant coverage, poorer benefits, higher administrative costs and lack of social solidarity and gender equity. These discoveries were against the allegations of many scholars and international financial organizations; eventually, World Bank officials acknowledged some of my allegations, and my work has become standard reference in the world. The current trend, particularly in Latin America, from fully-funded pensions towards mixed systems (a combination of a public program and individual accounts), has been largely the outcome of my consultant work in 19 of the region’s 20 countries. In 2007, the International Labor Organization awarded me the inaugural Prize on Decent Work (shared with Nelson Mandela) for my work on social protection world-wide.
What are you most proudly of your teaching and advising at Pitt?
My graduate students have been ministers of finance, social security, and social assistance in several Latin American countries. Others are in top positions at international organizations like the International Labor Office, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and UNRISD. Last but not least, some have become Endowed Chairs in universities, like Harvard, and in many universities in Latin America, Spain and Germany. One of the top world experts on pensions (at the University of Pennsylvania) wrote that wherever she goes, she finds some of my former students in key positions. I keep in touch with most of them.
Has your work been acknowledged after you retired at Pitt?
Actually I have been awarded more prizes and grants in the 22 years after my retirement that during my 33 years at Pitt. In addition to the ILO Prize, I have received Germany Alexander von Humboldt Senior Prize, two Fulbright Senior Specialist Grants (Spain and Germany), Honorary Member of the Latin American Academy of Science, Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award in International Achievement, and nominated twice, being a finalist to Spain Prince of Asturias Prize on Social Science. Since 2001, I have been a member of the Advisory Board of the International Social Security Review (Geneva) having the longest tenure on the Board. The International Congress on Social Security, with the sponsorship of 12 national organizations and two regional associations of Labor Law and Social Security, named its 2022 meeting in my honor, and a book is in press with chapters written by 28 noted experts from all over the world. In 2007, I received Pitt homage for 50 years of academic work, and the Pitt Chancellor has included me among the seven “most celebrated members, scholars and discoverers” at the university.
What do you enjoy doing during retirement?
Having time to be with my family, travelling abroad with Elena, going to Miami Beach during the winter, reading novels and watching films. I have also continued to do research, publish and conduct international consulting projects. For example, I have been a Visiting Professor at four universities in Spain, Research Associate three times at the Max Planck Institute for International Social Law and Policy (Munich), a Visiting Research Professorship at Tulane University and Florida International University, and a lecturer in two dozen countries. In February, I was inducted into Spain Free College of Professors Emeriti, the first non-Spaniard to join the institution to whom belong 68 prominent retired professors! I have been invited to join a team working on a key major research topic.
Finally, I believe that professor’s emeriti that keep active publishing and receiving national and international recognition contribute to Pitt’s rising status in excellence in the USA and therefore should be given credit by the university.