Dr. Cielito F. Habito is currently a Professor of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he is the Director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD). He also sits in the Boards of several corporations and foundations, including the Manila Water Corporation, Metrobank Card Corporation, Mutual Fund Company of the Philippines, Philsteel Holdings, the Cahbriba Alternative School Foundation, Maximo T. Kalaw Institute for Sustainable Development, Brain Trust, Inc., and the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation (RPDEV). He also writes the weekly column “No Free Lunch” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He was the youngest member of the Cabinet of Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning/NEDA Director-General throughout his six-year presidency from 1992 to 1998. He chaired the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development from 1992-1998, and was elected Chair of the Sixth Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in New York in 1998. Before joining government in 1990, he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), and had also worked at Kyoto University and the World Bank. He holds a Ph.D. (1984) and M.A. (1981) in Economics from Harvard University, a Master of Economics (1978) from the University of New England (Australia), and B.S. Agricultural Economics, Summa cum Laude (1975) from UPLB.