Journal of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Fall 2010 Contents: • Editors' Summary • Reforming Pensions: Lessons from Economic Theory and Some Policy Directions By Nicholas Barr and Peter Diamond • Containing Systemic Risk: Paradigm-Based Perspectives on Regulatory Reform By Augusto De la Torre and Alain Ize • Labor Market Rigidities and Informality in Colombia By Camilo Mondragón-Vélez, Ximena Peña, and Daniel Wills • Communicational Bias in Monetary Policy: Can Words Forecast Deeds? By Pablo Pincheira and Mauricio Calani
Journal of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Fall 2010 Contents: Editors' Summary Reforming Pensions: Lessons from Economic Theory and Some Policy DirectionsBy Nicholas Barr and Peter Diamond Containing Systemic Risk: Paradigm-Based Perspectives on Regulatory ReformBy Augusto De la Torre and Alain Ize Labor Market Rigidities and Informality in ColombiaBy Camilo Mondragón-Vélez, Ximena Peña, and Daniel Wills Communicational Bias in Monetary Policy: Can Words Forecast Deeds?By Pablo Pincheira and Mauricio Calani
This semiannual journal from the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) provides a forum for influential economists and policymakers from the region to share high-quality research directly applied to policy issues within and among those countries. Contents: Long-Term Care in Latin America and the Caribbean: Theory and Policy Considerations Martín Caruso Bloeck, Sebastian Galiani, and Pablo Ibarrarán Pension Income Indexation: A Mean-Variance Approach Rodrigo lluberas The Impact of Police Presence on Drug-Trade-Related Violence Emiliano Tealde Productivity and Reallocation: Evidence from Ecuadorian Firm-Level Data Anson T. Y. Ho, Kim P. Huynh, and David T. Jacho-Chávez Can a Small Social Pension Promote Labor Force Participation? Evidence from the Colombia Mayor Program Tobias Pfutze and Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán Sovereign Credit Ratings in Latin America and the Caribbean: History and Impact on Bond Spreads Inés Bustillo, Daniel Perrotti, and Helvia Velloso
This semiannual journal from the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) provides a forum for influential economists and policymakers from the region to share high-quality research directly applied to policy issues within and among those countries. Contents: 1. Cash Transfers in Latin America: Effects on Poverty and Redistribution Verónica Amarante and Martín Brun 2. How Sensitive Is Regional Poverty Measurement in Latin America to the Value of the Poverty Line? R. Andrés Castañeda, Santiago Garriga, Leonardo Gasparini, Leonardo R. Lucchetti, and Daniel Valderrama 3. Homicides and the Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Density Discontinuity Approach Francisco J. M. Costa, João S. de Faria, Felipe S. Iachan, and Bárbara Caballero 4. Fool’s Gold: The Impact of Venezuelan Currency Devaluations on Multinational Stock Prices Dany Bahar, Carlos A. Molina, and Miguel Angel Santos 5. Downward Wage Rigidities in the Mexican Labor Market: 1996–2011 Laura Juarez and Daniel Casarin de la Cabada 6. I Sell My Vote, and So What? Incidence, Social Bias, and Correlates of Clientelism in Colombia Leopoldo Fergusson, Carlos Molina, and Juan Felipe Riaño
Contents: Editors' Summary A Comparison of Product Price Targeting and Other Monetary Anchor Options for Commodity Exporters in Latin America Jeffrey A. Frankel Inflation Targeting in Latin America: Toward a Monetary Union? Marc Hofstetter Is Violence against Union Members in Colombia Systematic and Targeted? Daniel Mejía and María José Uribe The Dynamics of Income Inequality in Mexico since NAFTA Geraldo Esquivel
Straight answers to every question you've ever had about how the economy works and how it affects your life In this Collector's Edition of their celebrated How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, Peter Schiff, economic expert and bestselling author of Crash Proof and The Real Crash, once again teams up with his brother Andrew to spin a lively economic fable that untangles many of the fallacies preventing people from really understanding what drives an economy. The 2010 original has been described as a “Flintstones” take economics that entertainingly explains the beauty of free markets. The new edition has been greatly expanded in both quantity and quality. A new introduction and two new illustrated chapters bring the story up to date, and most importantly, the book makes the jump from black and white to full and vivid color. With the help of colorful cartoon illustrations, lively humor, and deceptively simple storytelling, the Schiff's bring the complex subjects of inflation, monetary policy, recession, and other important topics in economics down to Earth. The story starts with three guys on an island who barely survive by fishing barehanded. Then one enterprising islander invents a net, catches more fish, and changes the island’s economy fundamentally. Using this story the Schiffs apply their signature take-no-prisoners logic to expose the glaring fallacies and gaping holes permeating the global economic conversation. The Collector’s Edition: Provides straight answers about how economies work, without relying on nonsensical jargon and mind-numbing doublespeak the experts use to cover up their confusion Includes a new introduction that sets the stage for developing a deeper, more practical understanding of inflation and the abuses of the monetary system Adds two new chapters that dissect the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative easing policies and the European Debt Crisis. Colorizes the original book's hundreds of cartoon illustrations. The improved images, executed by artist Brendan Leach from the original book, add new vigor to the presentation Has a larger format that has been designed to fit most coffee tables. While the story may appear simple on the surface, as told by the Schiff brothers, it will leave you with a deep understanding of How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.
From an economist who warned of the global financial crisis, a new warning about the continuing peril to the world economy Raghuram Rajan was one of the few economists who warned of the global financial crisis before it hit. Now, as the world struggles to recover, it's tempting to blame what happened on just a few greedy bankers who took irrational risks and left the rest of us to foot the bill. In Fault Lines, Rajan argues that serious flaws in the economy are also to blame, and warns that a potentially more devastating crisis awaits us if they aren't fixed. Rajan shows how the individual choices that collectively brought about the economic meltdown—made by bankers, government officials, and ordinary homeowners—were rational responses to a flawed global financial order in which the incentives to take on risk are incredibly out of step with the dangers those risks pose. He traces the deepening fault lines in a world overly dependent on the indebted American consumer to power global economic growth and stave off global downturns. He exposes a system where America's growing inequality and thin social safety net create tremendous political pressure to encourage easy credit and keep job creation robust, no matter what the consequences to the economy's long-term health; and where the U.S. financial sector, with its skewed incentives, is the critical but unstable link between an overstimulated America and an underconsuming world. In Fault Lines, Rajan demonstrates how unequal access to education and health care in the United States puts us all in deeper financial peril, even as the economic choices of countries like Germany, Japan, and China place an undue burden on America to get its policies right. He outlines the hard choices we need to make to ensure a more stable world economy and restore lasting prosperity.
