Gerardo Sicat is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of the Philippines (UP). He obtained his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963. His long career has rounded full circle. He started work at the UP in 1957, then in the Philippine government (1970–1984) and in international development at the World Bank (1985–1997), and then back to the University (1998). In the Philippine government, he served in the Cabinet as Chairman of the National Economic Council in 1970 and as the first (and therefore founding) Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) when it was established and served as Minister (secretary) of Economic Planning. He was also the founding spirit behind the creation of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the Philippine Center for Economic Development at the UP School of Economics. He has extensive writings on Philippine economic development issues. Two of his recent books are Weighing In on the Philippine Economy and Social Progress (Anvil, 2013) and Cesar Virata: Life and Times (University of the Philippines Press, 2014). He comments on Philippine economic and social development in his Wednesday column in the Philippine Star, “Crossroads”.