July 24, 2026 — Fifty years ago this month, I was one of a team of five MIT graduate students who were in Lisbon working for the Central Bank of Portugal. Paul Krugman, another member of that team has reminisced, on the occasion of the semicentennial of the 1976 mission. I will contribute my own reflections on that summer in light of where we are today, geopolitically.
- Portugal in 1976
Two years before, Portugal had ended a 48-year military dictatorship in its “Carnation Revolution” of 1974. It had then swung from right wing to left-wing — the government had taken over some parts of the economy, as marchers in the street chanted, “muerte à CIA,” a slogan that we saw still visible painted on the walls. But the country had turned back from an attempted left-wing coup in November 1975, setting the stage for a new beginning.