Alberto Acosta Espinosa is a renowned Ecuadorian economist and politician. He is a professor and researcher at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO - Ecuador). He taught at several universities in Ecuador and was a visiting professor at the Universidad de Cuenca, the Universidad de Guayaquil and the Universidad Andina, among others. Throughout his career he endured as a leftist intellectual, sympathizing with Marxism, third-worldism and more recently with the anti-globalization movement. Acosta was one of the drafters of the government plan Alianza PAIS, which led to the Rafael Correa presidency. He was Minister of Energy and Mines. He excelled as a promoter for the Yasuni ITT project and was President of the National Constituent Assembly promoting important reforms such as the recognition of the rights of Nature or the Sumak Kawsay / Buen Vivir. Became critical of the government of Correa and participated in various movements in defence of the Constitution of 2008. Was candidate for the presidency of Ecuador in the 2013 elections by the Unidad Plurinacional de las Izquierdas, a coalition of political parties and socialist social movements. Among others his published works are La Deuda eterna (1994), El Estado como solución (1998), Ecuador Post Petrolero (2000), Desarrollo Glocal - Con la Amazonía en la mira (2005), La migración en el Ecuador - oportunidades y amenazas (2006), El rostro oculto del TLC (2006), La maldición de la abundancia (2009), Breve historia económica del Ecuador (2013), Buen Bivir-Sumak Kawsay - Una oportunidad para imaginar otros mundos (2013).