Book "Escritos Económicos Rafael Núñez: Selección de escritos y Prólogo de Roberto Junguito"
The books and chapters that are published or edited belong to their respective authors and, therefore, do not necessarily commit the Bank, unless expressly indicated. For more information, please see our Legal Notice.
The book Escritos Económicos Rafael Núñez (Economic Writings by Rafael Nuñez: Selection and Foreword by Roberto Junguito), published in 2014, can be downloaded from Banco de la República’s Repository and the Virtual Library.
This essay aims to review the main economic writings by Rafael Núñez and analyze his economic thought. Thus, it aims to focus on the historic role of Núñez as an economist rather than a statesman or as the leader of the period known as "Regeneración." By way of introduction and as a frame of reference, a brief biographical review of Núñez is presented, describing his professional profile and his experiences in the economic field throughout his public life. Núñez entered the University of Cartagena in 1840, where he began law school. After participating in the liberal ranks during the War of the Supremes (1840-1841), he returned to his studies and graduated as a lawyer in 1845. In Cartagena de Indias, Núñez belonged to the Sociedad Democrática (Democratic Society) and founded a newspaper called La Democracia. In 1849, he was appointed rector of the Colegio Nacional de Cartagena and, shortly after, Treasury Secretary, and later, governor of the province of Bolivar. He then traveled to Panama, where he served as a municipal judge and was elected to the Congress of Colombia by the district of Chiriquí.
In 1853, Núñez entered national parliamentary life. Later, President José María Obando appointed him Secretary of Government, and in 1855, Manuel María Mallarino appointed him as his Secretary of War and then as Treasury Secretary between 1856 and 1857. After the civil war of 1860-1861, President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera appointed him director of Public Credit and, in 1862, Secretary of the Treasury, where he participated in the disentailment of mortmain. After the Convention of Rionegro in 1863, Rafael Núñez left the country on a diplomatic mission, first as the head of the consulate in Le Havre and then in Liverpool, to return in the mid-1870s. From 1878 to 1879, he served again as Treasury Secretary in the administration of Julián Trujillo.
On 08 April 1880, Núñez became president of the Estados Unidos de Colombia (United States of Colombia) until 01 April 1882. In 1884, he won the elections against the radical opposition. It was his second government, during which he faced the civil war of 1885. After Núñez's government triumphed, the Political Constitution of 1886 was approved and sanctioned, which definitively structured the Republic of Colombia around political centralization and administrative decentralization. Rafael Núñez's third term in office occurred between 1886 and 1892, and his last presidential term corresponded to 1892 and 1896. During these periods, Núñez allowed the vice presidents to work in the government. He retired to his home in El Cabrero, in Cartagena, in the company of Soledad Román, where he died on 18 September 1894, before the end of his presidential term.
