The Jaume I Award jury also highlighted his contributions on the determinants of the long-term development of the Spanish economy. Francisco Pérez is a referent in the debate on autonomous funding, since the IVIE has carried out comparative studies that have been decisive in the recognition of the Valencian underfunding with the current system.

The Jaume I Awards are given by a non-profit foundation whose honorary president is King Felipe VI. The foundation aims to promote scientific knowledge development, research, technological and cultural innovation, medicine and entrepreneurship efforts and projects. Its juries include many Nobel laureates.

Francisco Pérez earned his licenciatura (former Spanish undergraduate degree) in economic sciences, where he won an extraordinary award and an end-of-studies national award in 1973, and earned his doctorate in the same field in 1977. He worked as a Full Professor of the Department of Economic Analysis at the Faculty of Economics from 1986 until 2020. He has been Emeritus Professor at the Universitat de València for 4 years. He has been Research Director of IVIE since 1990.

He specialises in economic growth, competitiveness, regional economics, education economics and public finance. He is co-author of 84 books and has published more than 200 book chapters and articles in national and international specialised journals. He has six years of research productivity, participates in European projects and has supervised more than 100 research projects.