Economists have long known that aggregate measures of economic activity vary during recessions. Unemployment rates increase, for example, while both GDP growth and investment rates decrease. But when we look at actual firms, the individual units of production in an economy, during a recession do they all behave in the same way? And if not, can we use that information to learn … [Read more...] about When Worsening Credit Conditions Trigger Recessions
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Does Happiness Sway Elections?
Economic performance has long been considered key to voter behavior. "It's the economy, stupid," said a campaign strategist for Bill Clinton, cementing a view that a government's economic record is what voters care most about. But too much emphasis on the economy may be missing other, no less consequential, factors. A recent study by George Ward of the Massachusetts … [Read more...] about Does Happiness Sway Elections?
The Cost of Murder in Latin America and the Caribbean
The most recent ranking of the world's deadliest cities makes for depressing reading. The report, released April 5 by the Citizen's Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, a Mexican non-governmental organization, finds that 43 of the 50 most murderous cities in 2016 are in Latin America and the Caribbean. To top that, the region encompasses all of the world's ten … [Read more...] about The Cost of Murder in Latin America and the Caribbean
Tackling the Vulnerability to Economic Crisis
For Latin Americans, there are few memories as nightmarish as the "lost decade" of the 1980s, with its flagging growth and soaring levels of foreign debt, inflation and unemployment. Today, those days are gone. Dictatorships are no longer the norm. In most of the region, governing institutions have improved, and economic policymaking is generally more responsible, with stricter … [Read more...] about Tackling the Vulnerability to Economic Crisis