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Western Hemisphere > Puerto Rico

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Cover IMF Working Papers
Agglomeration, Innovation, and Spatial Reallocation: The Aggregate Effects of R&D Tax Credits
Alexandre Sollaci
I investigate the aggregate effects of R&D tax credits in the US. Because it subsidizes R&D activity and because credit rates vary between states, this policy has both spatial and dynamic effects on the economy. To address this issue, I construct an endogenous growth model with spatial heterogeneity and agglomeration spillovers in innovation. Aggregate outcomes in this model are thus affected by the spatial distribution of the population in the economy, which is itself endogenous and reacts to policy. I use this framework to identify a set of local R&D subsidies that maximize aggregate welfare.
Keywords:
agglomeration; innovation; R&D tax credits; R&D activity; R&D subsidy; R&D tax credit rate; aggregate outcome; Tax allowances; Credit ratings; Productivity; Wages; Global; elasticity of agglomeration; welfare effect; elasticity of congestion
Cover IMF Working Papers
We Are All in the Same Boat: Cross-Border Spillovers of Climate Risk through International Trade and Supply Chain
Are assets in a landlocked country subject to sea-level rise risk? In this paper, we study the cross-border spillovers of physical climate risks through international trade and supply chain linkages. As we base our findings on historical data between 1970 and 2018, we observe that globalization increased the similarity of countries’ global climate risk exposures. Exposures to foreign climatic disasters in major trade partner countries (both upstream and downstream) lower the home-country stock market valuation for the aggregate market and for the tradable sectors. We also find that exposures to foreign long-term climate change risks reduce the asset price valuations of the tradable sectors at home. Findings in this paper suggest that climate adaptation efforts in a country can have positive externalities on other countries’ macrofinancial performance and stability through international trade.
Keywords:
climate risk; financial spillover; supply chain; financial stability; WP; risk exposure; disaster damage; spillover index; exposure measure; assets ratio; expected return; Climate change; Stock markets; Foreign currency exposure; Financial sector; Natural disasters; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United States: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note-Insurance Supervision and Regulation
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This Technical Note (TN) is a targeted review of cross-cutting themes building on the detailed assessment of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) conducted in 2015. The targeted review was chosen, in part, due to the performance of the U.S. insurance regulatory system in the 2015 detailed assessment where it was assessed that the U.S. observed 8 ICPs, largely observed 13 ICPs and partly observed 5 ICPs. The analysis relied on a targeted self-assessment against a subset of ICPs covering valuation and solvency, risk management, conduct, winding-up, corporate governance and enforcement, and the objectives, powers and responsibility of supervisors. The choice of subjects covered in this review is based on those aspects most significant to financial stability and a follow-up on key recommendations from the 2015 detailed assessment. The focus of the analysis has been on the state-based system of regulation and supervision, reflecting the existing institutional setup.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; insurance regulator; holding company; life insurance; risk management; balance sheet; financial condition; State insurance act; state insurance department; State insurance regulator; State regulator; federal government; Insurance companies; Insurance; Natural disasters; Financial statements; Solvency; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Dominant Currency Paradigm: A New Model for Small Open Economies
Camila Casas
,
Mr. Federico J Diez
,
Ms. Gita Gopinath
, and
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
Most trade is invoiced in very few currencies. Despite this, the Mundell-Fleming benchmark and its variants focus on pricing in the producer’s currency or in local currency. We model instead a ‘dominant currency paradigm’ for small open economies characterized by three features: pricing in a dominant currency; pricing complementarities, and imported input use in production. Under this paradigm: (a) the terms-of-trade is stable; (b) dominant currency exchange rate pass-through into export and import prices is high regardless of destination or origin of goods; (c) exchange rate pass-through of non-dominant currencies is small; (d) expenditure switching occurs mostly via imports, driven by the dollar exchange rate while exports respond weakly, if at all; (e) strengthening of the dominant currency relative to non-dominant ones can negatively impact global trade; (f) optimal monetary policy targets deviations from the law of one price arising from dominant currency fluctuations, in addition to the inflation and output gap. Using data from Colombia we document strong support for the dominant currency paradigm.
Keywords:
WP; exchange rate; open economy; dollar exchange rate; currency price; currency pricing; destination currency; dollar pricing; production function; inflation to the ratio; currency price of export; misalignment term; inflation rate; peso price; Currencies; Exchange rates; Export prices; Exports; Import prices; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Revisiting the Potential Impact to the Rest of the Caribbean from Opening US-Cuba Tourism
Mr. Sebastian Acevedo Mejia
,
Mr. Trevor Serge Coleridge Alleyne
, and
Rafael Romeu
The Cuban revolution and the subsequent US embargo on Cuba helped shape the tourism sector in the Caribbean, facilitating the birth and growth of alternative destinations. Therefore, the apprehension of the Caribbean tourism industry towards a change in US travel policy to Cuba is understandable, but likely unwarranted. The history of tourism in the region has shown that it is possible for all destinations to grow despite large changes in market shares. Our estimations show that liberalizing US-Cuba tourism could result in US arrivals to Cuba of between 3 and 5.6 million, most of it coming from new tourists to the region. We also identify the destinations most at risk of changes in US-Cuba relations.
Keywords:
WP; tourist; Cuba; tourism industry; Tourism; Caribbean; Trade; Gravity model; US-Cuba relation; opening US-Cuba; tourism flow; visit Cuba; US-Cuba restriction; US-Cuba tourism; Gravity models
Cover IMF Working Papers
Gone with the Wind: Estimating Hurricane and Climate Change Costs in the Caribbean
Mr. Sebastian Acevedo Mejia
This paper studies the economic costs of hurricanes in the Caribbean by constructing a novel dataset that combines a detailed record of tropical cyclones’ characteristics with reported damages. I estimate the relation between hurricane wind speeds and damages in the Caribbean; finding that the elasticity of damages to GDP ratio with respect to maximum wind speeds is three in the case of landfalls. The data show that hurricane damages are considerably underreported, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, with average damages potentially being three times as large as the reported average of 1.6 percent of GDP per year. I document and show that hurricanes that do not make landfall also have considerable negative impacts on the Caribbean economies. Finally, I estimate that the average annual hurricane damages in the Caribbean will increase between 22 and 77 percent by the year 2100, in a global warming scenario of high CO2 concentrations and high global temperatures.
Keywords:
WP; nominal GDP; wind-damage elasticity; wind velocity; storm damage; Hurricane; tropical cyclone; climate change; climate impact; Caribbean; damages in the Caribbean; tropical cyclone damage; wind-damage function; wind-damages relation; terms tropical cyclone; Natural disasters; Greenhouse gas emissions; Renewable energy; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United States: 2016 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2016 Article IV Consultation highlights that the United States is now in its seventh consecutive year of expansion. The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9 percent, and household net worth is close to precrisis peaks. Nonetheless, the economy has gone through a temporary growth dip in the last two quarters. Lower oil prices led to a further contraction in energy sector investment, and a strong dollar and weak global demand have weighed on net exports. With activity indicators for the second quarter of 2016 rebounding, the economy is expected to grow at 2.2 percent and 2.5 percent in 2016 and 2017, which is above potential.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; spending momentum; article IV discussion; staff appraisal; potential GDP; rate; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; money market rate; Inflation; Income; Labor markets; Wages; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 2014 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ economic recovery from the global economic crisis has been curbed by a series of significant natural disasters. These, combined with the economic downturn following the global financial crisis, have prevented the economy from returning to its long-term potential real GDP growth. The overall fiscal balance is estimated to have narrowed to 4.75 percent of GDP in 2014. After an estimated 1.1 percent growth rate in 2014, growth is projected to pick up modestly to 2.1 percent in 2015 on improvements in tourism and agriculture and enhanced implementation of much-needed rehabilitation and reconstruction projects.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; GDP; loan; government; government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; IDB lending; CARTAC mission; lending capacity; building and loan association; concessionary loan resource; public finance; Natural disasters; Credit bureaus; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United States: Staff Report for the 2015 Article IV Consultation
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This 2015 Article IV Consultation highlights that the U.S. economy’s momentum in the first quarter of 2015 was sapped by unfavorable weather, a sharp contraction in oil sector investment, and the West Coast port strike. But the underpinnings for a continued expansion remain in place. A solid labor market, accommodative financial conditions, and cheaper oil should support a more dynamic path for the remainder of the year. Despite this, the weaker outturn in the first few months of 2015 will unavoidably pull down 2015 growth. Despite important policy uncertainties, the near-term fiscal outlook has improved, and the federal government deficit is likely to move modestly lower in the current fiscal year.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; article IV discussion; rate; housing data; core PCE inflation; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; staff appraisal; personal income growth; Inflation; Central bank policy rate; Output gap; Financial sector risk; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United States: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on the United States of America examines the recent US labor force penetration rate (LFPR) dynamics. LFPR dynamics can be driven by structural factors and cyclical ones related to job prospects. With participation rates for older workers lower than for prime age workers, demographic models suggest that aging of the baby boom generation explains about 50 percent of the near 3p.p. LFPR decline during 2007–2013. State-level panel regression analysis is used to tie down the cyclical effect, which is estimated to account for about 30–40 percent of the decline. Significant remaining slack in the labor market points to an important role for macroeconomic and labor supply policies. This suggests a still important role for stimulative macroeconomic policies to help reach full employment. Macroeconomic policy should remain accommodative for a while given sizeable labor market slack. This slack goes beyond that signaled by the unemployment rate and takes account of the LFPR being below trend and many employees working part time ‘involuntarily’.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; TFP growth; federal funds rate; LFPR decline; fed fund; policy uncertainty; Fed funds lending; LFPR dynamics; Total factor productivity; Unemployment; Aging; Central bank policy rate; Global; Caribbean; North America; Europe