Dominican economist Carlos Despradel has published a new autobiography, "Traté de merecer mi existencia" ("I Tried to Deserve My Existence"), revisiting more than six decades of his professional career as an economist, public official, diplomat and teacher.
The book was launched at the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic. In it, Despradel reflects on the decisions and principles that guided his work, and reviews the moments that shaped his career.
Despradel has spent much of his professional life moving between classrooms, public institutions and the private sector as an economist, teacher, consultant, diplomat and public official. The book is published by Editora Búho and registered in the ISBN Agency catalog of the Dominican Republic.
According to Despradel, the book goes beyond simple professional memory. He describes it as a personal exercise in taking stock, asking what has been done with the time he was given and how much of that work benefited others. The title reflects that concern: for Despradel, existence takes on meaning when it is placed in service of something beyond individual interest, which is why he stresses the responsibility of every person to contribute to collective wellbeing and to act with integrity.
From the classroom to economic decisions
Across its pages, Despradel reconstructs the different stages of a career that led him to hold some of the most prominent positions in Dominican public administration.
He served as governor of the Central Bank, technical secretary of the Presidency and ambassador in Washington, in addition to working as an adviser and consultant to public and private institutions. He also taught at several universities, a role he considers an important part of his connection to economics and to new generations of professionals.
Among the milestones he highlights is being the first economist to graduate from a Dominican university, as well as his role in founding the Dominican College of Economists. He also recalls his involvement in decisions related to economic stability, exports and the country's international economic relations.
His appointment as governor of the Central Bank holds a special place in his account. Despradel notes that he was the only official at the institution to reach that position through internal promotion, a detail he links to a career built from within the institution itself.
The book does not focus only on the positions he held. It aims to put those episodes in context and explain what they meant for him and for the country at each stage. His professional path also serves as a window into a Dominican Republic that, during those decades, went through periods of growth, transformation, economic difficulties and shifting relations with the rest of the world.
Looking to the past to talk about the future
Another thread runs through Despradel's reflections: ethics.
For the economist, honesty and transparency were not secondary to his work but principles that had to accompany the exercise of any public function. He links that conviction to his understanding of public service and to the responsibility he believes falls on those who hold positions of influence over the country's direction.
From that perspective, "Traté de merecer mi existencia" does not dwell on nostalgia for a professional era already lived. The personal reckoning becomes an invitation to look ahead.
Despradel raises some of the challenges he believes the Dominican Republic must address to sustain its growth: reducing the fiscal deficit, strengthening exports and moving toward a sustainable development model that combines stability with progress.
Between professional memories and personal reflections, the book also becomes a conversation between generations. The author looks back on his own experience while thinking of those who will have to make the country's economic and public decisions in the future.
After about 60 years of professional work in the public and private sectors, Despradel treats the act of setting down his story as itself a form of service. His autobiography, in that sense, is a way of ordering memory, sharing what he learned and leaving open questions about what it means to dedicate a life to one's country.
"Traté de merecer mi existencia" is, in the end, the account of that attempt: of someone looking back at his career not only to list what he achieved, but to ask whether, along the way, he managed to give it all a purpose.
