This paper presents an overview of the book Collapse and Revival: Understanding Global Recessions and Recoveries that tracks the global business cycle through the destruction of a global recession to the renewal of recovery, drawing on four major episodes during the past half century. This book defines the terms of global recessions and recoveries; documents their main features; describes the events that take place around these episodes; puts the latest global recession and ongoing recovery in perspective; and analyzes the interactions between fluctuations in the global growth and national growth over the different phases of the global cycle.

This paper discusses about countries that must chart their own paths to effectively balance the potential benefits against the risks and challenges, including institutional and capacity constraints, privacy concerns, and new avenues for fraud and evasion. The digital revolution holds vast potential for fiscal policies. By transforming the way fiscal systems collect, process, and act on information, it can expand and reshape the way governments design and implement their tax, spending, and macro-fiscal policies. Countries will need to chart a path based on their individual circumstances—either by taking incremental steps to digitize, or by leapfrogging to newer and more sophisticated methods of policy formulation and implementation. A recurring theme in this book is the need for greater regional coordination in finding solutions to address the Caribbean’s shared and intertwined macroeconomic and structural challenges. The analysis suggests that strengthening regional and global market integration of Caribbean economies would provide an impetus to sustained growth in incomes and jobs.

February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index.

Low-tech Magazine underscores the potential of past and often forgotten technologies and how they can inform sustainable energy practices. Sometimes, past technologies can be copied without any changes. More often, interesting possibilities arise when older technology is combined with new knowledge and new materials, or when past concepts and traditional knowledge are applied to modern technology. Inspiration is also to be found in the so-called “developing” world, where resource constraints often lead to inventive, low-tech solutions.