"What Can the United States Learn from Latin America about the Current Economic Crisis?"

Talk by Michael Cohen, Professor of International Affairs at the New School University  in New York,

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, Latin American countries have largely maintained economic growth, kept unemployment low, and avoided the worst effects of the crisis on public finance and the banking system. This performance is generally better than the United States and most European countries. How have the Latin American countries achieved this result? What does this experience tell us about the current debate over fiscal austerity in the United States? These questions will be addressed by Dr. Michael Cohen in a talk at the Woods Hole Public Library on Saturday October 20 at 3 PM.

Michael Cohen (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Professor of International Affairs, Director of the International Affairs Program, and Director of the Observatory on Latin America at The New School University in New York. From 1972 to 1999, he worked at the World Bank and was responsible for much of the urban policy development of the Bank over that period and served as the Senior Advisor to the Bank's Vice-President for Environmentally Sustainable Development. He has advised many governments and international organization and worked in 55 countries. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Panels on Infrastructure and Urban Dynamics. He is the author or editor of many books, including most recently, Argentina’s Economic Growth and Recovery: The Economy in a Time of Default (2012), Latin America on the Move: The Post Neoliberal Transition, (2007), Argentina in Collapse? : The Americas Debate, (both edited with Margarita Gutman, 2003), Preparing the Urban Future: Global Pressures and Local Forces (ed. with A. Garland, B. Ruble, and J. Tulchin, 1996), The

Human Face of the Urban Environment (ed. with I. Serageldin, 1994), and Urban Policy and Economic Development: An Agenda for the 1990s.

The talk at the Library is free and open to the public. For questions, call the Library at 508-548-8961 or visit the website www.woodsholepubliclibrary.org.