Francisco Rodríguez (economist)

Francisco R. Rodríguez is a Venezuelan economist. From 2000 to 2004, he served as the head of the economic and financial advisory of the Venezuelan National Assembly (Spanish: Oficina de Asesoría Económica y Financiera de Asamblea Nacional). He also joined Torino Economics, the economic analysis branch of New-York based Torino Capital, as chief economist between 2016 and 2019, and served as policy advisor for presidential candidate Henri Falcón in 2018.

Economic career
From 2000 to 2004, he served as the head of the economic and financial advisory of the National Assembly of Venezuela.

Rodríguez joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in August 2011 as Chief Andean Economist, covering the economies of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. In 2012 he predicted that Chávez would be re-elected during the presidential elections that year. He joined Torino Economics, the economic analysis branch of New-York based Torino Capital in July 2016 as chief economist. Rodríguez left Torino Economics on 3 September 2019.

In May 2016, Rodríguez was part of a group of economists under an initiative promoted by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to present an economic stabilization program to the government of Nicolás Maduro, who until then had refused to implement necessary monetary and fiscal reforms to contain prices, stabilize the exchange rate and foster production recovery. The plan was shelved by the Maduro administration.

On 2018, 20 May, the candidate Henri Falcón accused Maduro of rigging the presidential elections and refused to recognize the results. Both him and Rodríguez said the election was not valid. He has since become the Rice Family Professor of the Practice of International and Public Affairs at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies and a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.