Beyond Crises in Latin America Finan

Latin America is much more than a series of economic crises that have regularly punctured the region’s growth path. But a full understanding of the region requires grappling with the recurrent crises of the past two and a half decades. This seminar will focus on the region’s three largest economies by examining three pivotal moments: Brazil’s crisis of 2003, Argentina’s crisis of 2001 and Mexico’s peso crisis of 1994 and then using each of the historical episodes as a basis to analyze the current outlook in each of the economies—Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. We will examine each episode with particular focus on the perspective of institutional investors as well as the role that financial markets played in precipitating the crises and in shaping the economic aftermath. The instructor has spent more than two decades on Wall Street working closely with institutional investors as well as policy makers in the region in his capacity as chief Latin American economist and will draw on his experiences as students revisit three major turning points in the region and explore the current outlook in the region’s largest economies. The course is designed to allow students in a small class setting to apply the macroeconomic theory they have learned in previous courses both to probe three pivotal turning points in the region as well as to analyze the current economic outlook in the region’s largest economies. A special focus will be placed on how research is conducted in financial institutions along with the perspective of a financial markets practitioner. Guest lecturers, including institutional investors, will also be invited to provide students with an opportunity to learn from financial market participants who are grappling with the macroeconomics issues being explored in class. During each session, the instructor will summarize the main ideas on the policy issue or case study of the day as well as guide the class in a discussion of the topics.