Professor Antoni Castells was honoured on 15 September at an event held in the Aula Magna of the historic building of the University of Barcelona (UB) to acknowledge his brilliant academic career, his rigour and commitment, and his enormous capacity for work.

In the world of Spanish academia Antoni Castells is considered a pioneer in the field of fiscal federalism and the finances of the autonomous communities, issues which, along with social welfare policies and the European economy, have been his main areas of study over the course of his career. Professor Castells saw that in order to improve research, specialized structures had to be made available; he was one of the founders of the Barcelona Institute of Economics and in fact served as its first director.

The event brought together more than 150 people, including academics, economists, politicians and representatives of civil society. From the world of politics, the attendees included two former presidents of different political persuasions, Jordi Pujol and José Montilla, the former Minister of Economy Andreu Mas-Colell, who succeeded Castells in this post, and the current ministers Joaquim Nadal (Research and Universities) and Anna Simó (Education).

During the event, speeches were given by the Rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, the Minister of Universities, Joaquim Nadal; the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Ramon Alemany; the Director of the Department of Economics and IEB researcher, José García-Quevedo; the emeritus professor at the Rey Juan Carlos University, Jesús Ruiz-Huerta; the UB professor and IEB researcher Núria Bosch, and the former rector, Josep Maria Bricall.