About me

Welcome!

Hi there! Thanks for visiting my website, which has become a very nice way to organize both thoughts and content about those things that -as far as I believe- may add some value to my surroundings.

A little intro about me. I live at the crossroads of storytelling and academia. Raised between the US and Colombia, I was born in 1986 in Bogotá. In my 20s, I went back to search for my roots in Europe. I now live in Berlin and work as professor of economics and public policy at Berlin International University of Applied Sciences, where I have been Dean of the Business Faculty since 2020. I am affiliated to Tecnológico (TEC) de Monterrey's Dept. of Economics, where I have taught behavioral economics for several years. Increasingly, I have given in to the power of STORY within my classes and consulting activities.

With regards to academics, I am detached from a single specific field, but I set my work under the umbrella of "Public Value" or seeking to improve what Marcus Aurelius called "the good of the community" (ad commune utilitatem), and this involves transforming organizations. I have been mostly involved in public administration matters, specifically in projects related to the effects of the Law (legal-formalism, to be more specific) on people's lives and the efficiency of the State when it comes to spending (taxpayer) money. This has involved projects regarding Public Value, government spending, effects of the Law on entrepreneurship, the use of short-term government branding, the effect of unclear and misleading information for consumers, and what I have called "Wasteful Spending Cultures" of government (See the Academics section).

I am critical of bad policymaking and this we can build better policies if we use more evidence than narratives; we have tons of work to do to improve people's lives. I am happy if we both share that goal.

Beyond these academic projects, I am obsessed with storytelling, in

a) the classroom (yes, it is a fantastic tool that I have been figuring out for myself in order to deliver fun classes and transform the way teaching works. The student surveys show a very good path in this direction)

b) business & public policy consulting (yes, it is an amazing way to do better branding, both for the government and for firms).

c) life (writing is beautiful).

You will find a small selection of my short stories and links to my novels on this website.

If you are a fan of languages, you will find some interesting resources here. I am a member of HYPIA, the International Hyperpolyglot Association, which fosters multilingualism. I have not learned my languages for work or pleasing others; I've only done this for pleasure, including the one to understand others and go beyond our usual surroundings. If this somehow inspires you to learn more languages, I will be very happy to support this.

Apart from this, I see myself as a person who likes to speak out against absurdities. The latter can include perverse incentives and injustıce embodied in some laws and procedures that do not improve society.

If you are interested in any of my workshops / training / conferences, I am happy to talk!

Prof. Dr. Erick Behar-Villegas