I was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to the United States with my family in 1954 returning to Cuba in 1956. In 1960 we moved, for the last time, to the United States when I was 16 years old. This time we left Cuba to the US to get away from Cuba’s new communist government. I married my wife Berta in 1966 and became a US citizen in 1971.

During the time I lived in Cuba I experienced a period of democracy and respect for civil liberties, a period of a rightist military dictatorship and the early stages of a leftists communist totalitarian dictatorship. And, of course, in the United States I have learned much about how a democracy works. And my experience tells me that there is nothing better than democracy and civil liberties.

In 1961 I enrolled at Miami-Dade Community college, majoring in economics and completed my Bachelors and Masters in that major at the University of Miami. Right after that graduation I went on to teach economics at Miami-Dade Community College for three years, then on to Florida State University for a Ph.D. degree in 1974, with specialization in money and banking and international economics.

Economics was a subject that I was fascinated with since my teenage years. And that fascination came from a need to understand the impact of government policies.

Soon after I completed my Ph.D. I began a carer as a financial, economic or marketing analyst in the financial services industry, mostly in banking. I developed one of the earliest models for bank interest rate risk management, as well as mortgage loan pricing models at two banks. At these banks I also created, financial simulation models, cost accounting systems, budgeting systems and models to assess the cost effectiveness of bank deposit marketing.

Between my banking jobs I served as the director of the Banking Institute of the Graduate School of Business of Nova Southeastern University.

My banking experience has lead me to a more nuanced understanding of economics, particularly, the influence of banking on business cycles. This is a topic I will be covering in a future blog in connection with the great recession and bursting bubbles.

I retired in 2018. But well before that year I had decided to spend a good part of my retirement time writing these blogs.

I have been a member of the Libertarian Party since 1999. I have been chairman of the Duval County Libertarian Party, and I ran for the Florida state house as a Libertarian in 2002. I have also been Vice Chair of the Duval County Libertarian Party and Chair of the Platform Committee of the Libertarian Party of Florida. Currently, I am Chair of its Membership Committee. Of course, what I write on this website is not necessarily the positions of the Libertarian Party at any level, they are only my own opinions.

My libertarian inclinations started with what I learned from economist Milton Friedman. Of course, my opinions reflect my libertarian preferences, but I am always open to alternatives, if they are supported by facts and reason.

Ricardo Mejias