Hector Maletta: It depends. I don’t need silence. I often read or write in cafes, bars or cabs. Even at boring meetings. But I abhor distractions…somebody interrupting me. Music is a great help, especially music that doesn’t demand much attention. I’m a classical music fan and I listen to Tango and other music as well.

King Douglas: Has your expertise in SPSS or other statistics and data management applications influenced the way you approach your other work?

Hector Maletta: Oh, yes, very much. But not my “other” work…my work. Using this kind of software enables me to attack certain tasks in a completely different fashion because I can use certain data sources that many other colleagues of mine cannot use. Many colleagues of mine go to a certain country to work on the same subject I am working on and face the same problems. Normally they try to respond with statistics already available to them…government publications or whatever. I ask for a copy of the local survey or census microdata database and process it myself my way. SPSS is a very powerful instrument to get new information from the data. I am not constrained by the available tables or whatever. I can apply new methodologies and new approaches and new definitions to the same data and produce a lot of information in a very short time.

My colleague may be a very good statistician or econometrician but if he is unable to use statistical software or work with raw data then he is at a disadvantage in producing original analyses. I can, very efficiently, go into the data, adapt it to my needs, and produce results.

King Douglas: Do you have any heroes or exemplars today?

Hector Maletta: Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the winner of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize. He is an old friend of mine, my compadre because I am the godfather of one of his sons. I do not share all his views, but I admire his courage and resolve, and his outstanding moral quality.

King Douglas: Do you drink coffee or use other stimulants when you work? What is your stimulant of choice?

Hector Maletta: Coffee, one cup at breakfast, perhaps one in the mid-morning, another one after lunch…at most—sometimes less than that. I don’t drink coffee after 4 or 5 pm.

King Douglas: At what hour of the day do you do your best work?

Hector Maletta: I work in the mornings very well and I work in the evenings well. What I find difficult is to get out of bed in the morning. Once I’m out of bed, I’m happy. I’m a night owl, so sometimes I work all night, but my attention doesn’t decay during the night. As a consultant, I have no timetable for work. I’m expected to work at any hour.