Author Description

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced dramatic changes in economic policy in the last decade, decisively moving toward more open market systems. The reforms have gone hand in hand with a remarkable increase in the quality of the policy debate in the area. This new 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 of the second issue:"Contagion in Latin America: Definitions, Measurement, and Policy Implications"Kristin J. Forbes and Roberto Rigobon (MIT)"Lending Booms: Latin America and the World"Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (Princeton University), Rodrigo Valdés (Ministry of Finance, Chile), and Oscar Landerretche (MIT)"Full Dollarization: The Case of Panama"Ilan Goldfajn and Gino Olivares (Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) "Fiscal Federalism in Argentina: Policies, Politics, and Institutional Reform"Mariano Tommasi (Universidad de San Andrés and CEDI), Sebastiàn Saiegh (New York University), and Pablo Sanguinetti (Universidad Torcuato di Tella)Andres Velasco is director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and professor of economics at Harvard University.