Israeli-American economist Prof. Elhanan Helpman has been awarded a honoris causa degree of the University of Warsaw. The ceremony took place on 8th June.

Professor Elhanan Helpman is one of the most prominent economists in the world who works in the field of international trade, political economy and economic growth. He is associated with the Harvard University and the Tel Aviv University.

– I am honoured to receive honorary degree from the UW – excellent institution which is the most important centre for research and education in Poland. For me, personally receiving this title is significant. I spent my first 11 years in Poland. In a sense, this event is my return to home – said prof. Elhan Helpman, during the ceremony.

The laudation was delivered by Prof. Andrzej Cieślik from the Faculty of Economic Sciences. He was speaking about scientific achievements and the career of prof. Enhanan Helpman. At the end, he added: – I have always greatly admired Prof. Helpman, not only for his scientific achievements, but generally I have greatly respected him as a person. He is a model scientist and I hope the future generations of economists and scientists will also share this opinion.

Dean of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, Prof. Jan Michałek emphasized scientific authority of Prof. Helpman, enumerated his five, the most important publications and mentioned the number of quotations. – In May 2016 google scholar indicated that more than 82 thousands quotations and references to his publications. It is also worth mentioning that the top economists in the world, according to Ideas Repec ranking are from the Harvard University, like Prof. Helpman – added prof. Michałek.

Awarded scholar is an author or co-author of 18 publications and more than 150 articles published in the prestigious scientific magazines. Prof. Helpman is one of the founders of the new theory of international trade, political economy of trade policy and endogenous growth theory.

Scholar has actively participated in the public sphere. He occupied numerous positions in Israel – he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Bank of Israel, the Council for National Planning, and the National Council for Research and Development. In addition, he was involved in the reconstruction of Polish-Israeli diplomatic and economic relations and the transformation of the Polish economy in the early 90s.