Barry Bosworth

"As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico operates under U.S. judicial, monetary, and tariff systems. Despite sharing these key U.S. institutions, however, the region's economy has stalled. Since the 1970s, the island has experienced economic stagnation, large scale unemployment, and a widening income gap relative to the mainland. Here, economists from Puerto Rico and the United States address the major policy issues-labor supply and demand, entrepreneurship, the fiscal situation, financial markets, and trade-at the heart of Puerto Rico's economic difficulties." "While many studies have analyzed the implications of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the United States, The Economy of Puerto Rico focuses on the island's economic development. The contributors to this innovative book assess Puerto Rico's past experience with various growth policies. They analyze reforms and new initiatives for increasing employment, encouraging private sector development, improving education, upgrading infrastructure, and fixing government finance. They conclude by presenting policy recommendations and proposing a strategy to jump-start economic growth in Puerto Rico. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.

The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was expected to signal the beginning of a new era of close cooperation between Mexico and the United States. Subsequent events, however, have introduced new tensions into the relationship. In this book, scholars from the United States and Mexico examine the major elements of the bilateral relationship. The economic dimension is highlighted in two chapters that focus on NAFTA's effects on trade and financial transactions. The political and social dimensions are taken up in three chapters on immigration, drug trafficking, and environmental concerns.

The role of primary commodities in industries economies; The contribution of primary commodity price increases to inflation; Sources of commodity price fluctuations; Grain and petroleum: the role of institutional changes; The policy choices: some general considerations; Commodity stabilization policies: some specific proposals.

Reviews the history of economic reform in Chile and assesses the effectiveness of the policies.

"Examines the decline in saving in the United States over the past quarter-century. Is it a statistical artifact of the official measure of saving? Why don't Americans save? What are the consequences for economic growth, the performance of the aggregate economy, and policy goals?"--Provided by publisher.

"The emergence of large trade imbalances among the industrial countries during the 1980s - particularly the massive deficit of the United States and the surpluses of Germany and Japan - has led to growing disenchantment with the international economic system. But while many critics point to unfair trade practices as the cause of these imbalances, others contend that this emphasis is misplaced." "In this provocative book by one of the nation's leading economists, Barry Bosworth argues that trade disparities are not the result of external infractions, but rather a reflection of domestic failures. He shows that the United States, for example, with its large government budget deficit and low rate of private saving, must borrow abroad to finance its investment. Similarly, trade surpluses of countries such as Japan reflect a surplus of national saving over domestic investment, rather than restrictive trade practices." "Bosworth explains that large trade imbalances became possible in the 1980s because of the development of an international capital market that greatly reduced the barriers to borrowing and lending across national borders. The result is an international system in which national economies are closely linked through international capital markets as well as through trade in goods and services.". "Using data from the major industrial countries, Bosworth highlights the process by which changes in domestic rates of saving and investment lead to changes in interest rates, exchange rates, and trade balances. He first examines why national saving and investment have fallen throughout the industrialized world. He then focuses on the determinants of exchange rates and trade flows, and considers whether the wide fluctuations in exchange rates are a cause for concern or simply an integral part of the international adjustment to the divergent patterns of national saving and investment."--BOOK JACKET.

"Examines the large imbalances in the world economy that contributed to the financial crisis of 2000-09, especially among those economies ordering the Pacific with the large deficits in the United States and the offsetting surpluses in East Asia, and how national policies could be coordinated to sustain recovery"--

In this book, part of the Brookings Integrating National Economies series, Barry P. Bosworth and Gur Ofer provide a balanced assessment of the progress of integration among the formerly centrally planned economies. So far, the results of the reform process range from amazing success in China to economic and political disarray in the states of the former Soviet Union.