On International Women’s Day, the EconomistAs Podcast presents an extraordinary interview. Eliana Cardoso talked with professors Maria Dolores Diaz and Paula Pereda. The result is a true gift.

With a career in economics, Eliana is one of the pioneers in inserting a feminine perspective in economics. With a degree in economics from PUC-RJ, she migrated to the United States and obtained her PhD in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was a professor in North-American universities such as Tufts University, Yale, Georgetown and MIT. In Brazil, she lectured at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV-SP). Eliana also held office at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

In this interview, Eliana talks about her trajectory as an economist, maternity, her marriage with economist Rudi Dornbusch, and the new career paths she has begun trodden at an older age. With 78 years, she dedicates herself to literature and illustration. In 2014, she published the book Bonecas Russas (by Companhia das Letras), finalist in the São Paulo Literature Prize. In 2016, she published Nuvem Negra (also by Companhia das Letras) and, in 2018, Dama de Paus, winner of the Brazilian Kindle Literature Prize. “Life in Brazil serves as inspiration for my books”, Eliana comments, highlighting that women are the protagonists in her stories.