David Hojman, emeritus professor of Economics and International Business in the Management School, sadly died after a lengthy illness on 14th July 2024
Born in Valparaíso, the principal seaport in Chile, in September 1946, David graduated in Economics from the Universidad de Chile in 1972, having obtained a distinction in his Licenciatura thesis following his Bachelor’s degree. He then went to work for the Chilean state copper company, Codelco, as an economist specialising in international trade, until the military coup of September 1973 forced him into exile. In autumn 1974 he commenced a PhD at Edinburgh on Chilean copper exports, import substitution industrialisation, and economic growth, completing it and graduating in 1977.
After two years as a postdoctoral research assistant at Bangor, David arrived in Liverpool in 1980 as a joint appointment to the Department of Economics and Accounting and the then thriving Institute of Latin American Studies. He remained in the two departments, fulfilling a variety of administrative roles as well as teaching Labour Economics, Development Economics, and the economics components of the MA in Latin American Studies, until he transferred to the newly established Management School in 2002. There he taught International Political Economy and Business in Latin America until his retirement in 2019. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1992, Reader in 1998, and to a personal chair in 2002. Following his move to the Management School, he was instrumental in the development of its PhD programme as its first Director of Studies. Some younger colleagues in the School have commented to me about how generous David was with his time in supporting the development of their own research careers.
David continued to research and comment vigorously on the Chilean economy. He edited five volumes on its transformation from a state-led model to neoliberalism in the 1980s and 1990s, variously published by Macmillan, University of Pittsburgh Press, and Liverpool University Press. Contributors to these volumes included other highly regarded Latinamericanists such as Laurence Whitehead from Oxford, Chris Scott (UEA), Patricio Silva (University of Leiden) and Cristóbal Kay from the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. In addition to these edited books, he published thirty book chapters and over fifty articles in peer-reviewed journals.
David’s own research focused initially on resources policy and Chilean agriculture, and he later made important contributions to the literature on infant and child mortality, publishing both in area and development studies journals, such as the Journal of Latin American Studies and World Development, and in leading economics journals (Applied Economics, Journal of Common Market Studies, Kyklos, Public Choice). His approach was normally that of a sceptical economist and, in Latin American studies at least, he was never afraid to put forward unorthodox views based on his assessment of the evidence from an economist’s perspective. Perhaps his most influential contribution was his analysis of why Latin American countries moved to market reforms in the 1980s and 1990s (published in Journal of Latin American Studies in 1994). Toward the end of his career David began to shed an economist’s eye on two of his great passions outside mainstream economics: folk music and wine, especially Chilean reds.
Beyond Liverpool, David was a visiting professor at the University of Lund in Sweden, and he gave seminar and conference papers in at least ten countries beyond the UK and Chile. He contributed reports on Latin American economic issues to the Economist Intelligence Unit, advised Unilever on Latin American markets, and regularly took part in Foreign and Commonwealth Office briefings for new UK ambassadors to Chile.
David left behind a significant body of research, often a little iconoclastic and sceptical of orthodox views, but always based on solid evidence and the mindset and techniques of a professional economist. I, for one, will certainly miss our conversations, usually accompanied by a bottle of Chilean carmenère, about the state of Latin America, and Chile in particular. Our sympathies are with his family.
Written by Rory Miller, September 2024