Javier Vidal Olivares, (Alicante, 1959), PhD Universidad de Valencia, Professor of Economic and Business History at Universidad de Alicante. Academic Secretary of the Institute of Social Studies of Latin America. Coordinator of the PHd of Humanities and Social Sciences of Latin America.He has been granted at Institute of Historical Research, University of London, European University Institute at Florence and also he has been Visiting Professor in some Latin American Universities, including Buenos Aires, Los Andes (Bogotá) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He has published widely about economic and business history in Spain and Latin America, especially in transport history, entrepreneurship and family firms.