Alberto Dávila - Böcker

Hispanics account for more than half the population growth in the United States over the last decade. With this surge has come a dramatic spike in the number of Hispanic-owned businesses. Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is a pioneering study of this nascent demographic. Drawing on rich quantitative data, authors Alberto Dávila and Marie T. Mora examine key economic issues facing Hispanic entrepreneurs, such as access to financial capital and the adoption and vitality of digital technology. They analyze the varying effects that these factors have on subsets of the Hispanic community, such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Salvadorans, while considering gender and immigrant status. This account highlights key policies to drive the success of Hispanic entrepreneurs, while drawing out strategies that entrepreneurs can use in order to cultivate their businesses. Far-reaching and nuanced, Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s is an important study of a population that is quickly becoming a vital component of American job creation.

At the landmark centennial anniversary of the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, the island confronts an unfolding humanitarian crisis initially triggered by an acute economic crisis surging since 2006. Analyzing large datasets such as the American Community Survey and the Puerto Rican Community Survey, this book represents the first comprehensive analysis of the socioeconomic and demographic consequences of “La Crisis Boricua” for Puerto Ricans on the island and mainland, including massive net outmigration from the island on a scale not seen for sixty years; a shrinking and rapidly aging population; a shut-down of high-tech industries; a significant loss in public and private sector jobs; a deteriorating infrastructure; higher sales taxes than any of the states; $74 billion in public debt plus another $49 billion in unfunded pension obligations; and defaults on payments to bondholders. This book also discusses how the socioeconomic and demographic outcomes differ among stateside Puerto Ricans, including recent migrants, in traditional settlement areas such as New York versus those in newer settlement areas such as Florida and Texas. Florida is now home to 1.1 million Puerto Ricans (essentially the same number as those living in New York) and received a full third of the migrants from the island to mainland during this time. Scholars interested in the transition of migrants into their receiving communities (regardless of the Puerto Rican case) will also find this book to be of interest, particularly with respect to the comparative analyses on earnings, the likelihood of being impoverished, and self-employment.

In 2010, Hispanics represented one out of every six people in the U.S. (up from one out of eight in 2000), such that the economic status of this population has become increasingly important for the economic direction of the nation. This volume brings together a group of scholars who analyze a variety of socioeconomic issues (particularly those related to education, poverty, and health) to assess how Hispanics have been faring relative to other Americans. A common theme across the chapters is that Hispanics tend to lag behind non-Hispanics with respect to their economic outcomes. Despite this lag, however, some of the studies indicate that Hispanics have been making progress in terms of improving their relative economic position in recent years. Several of the chapters also discuss policy implications.The intended audience includes social scientists, students, policymakers, and anyone interested in learning more about the economic conditions of Hispanic Americans. Many of the authors employed rigorous statistical methods to analyze the economic status of Hispanics, but the chapters were written to be accessible to a broad audience instead of one comprised mainly of quantitatively-oriented academics.

In 2010, Hispanics represented one out of every six people in the U.S. (up from one out of eight in 2000), such that the economic status of this population has become increasingly important for the economic direction of the nation. This volume brings together a group of scholars who analyze a variety of socioeconomic issues (particularly those related to education, poverty, and health) to assess how Hispanics have been faring relative to other Americans. A common theme across the chapters is that Hispanics tend to lag behind non-Hispanics with respect to their economic outcomes. Despite this lag, however, some of the studies indicate that Hispanics have been making progress in terms of improving their relative economic position in recent years. Several of the chapters also discuss policy implications.The intended audience includes social scientists, students, policymakers, and anyone interested in learning more about the economic conditions of Hispanic Americans. Many of the authors employed rigorous statistical methods to analyze the economic status of Hispanics, but the chapters were written to be accessible to a broad audience instead of one comprised mainly of quantitatively-oriented academics.

With its 155 mile-per-hour sustained windspeeds, the near-Category 5 Hurricane Maria brought catastrophic devastation and destruction as it diagonally crossed the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from the southeast to the northwest on September 20, 2017. The official death toll estimate of 2,975 lost lives means this record storm became one of the most devasting hurricanes not only for Puerto Rico but for the U.S. Many of these deaths, as well as the prolonged human suffering, were attributed to what was described as inadequate disaster response and slow restoration of basic services (including running water, electricity, and the provision and distribution of food and medicine), and not to the direct impact of the hurricane itself. At the same time, Hurricane Maria made landfall when Puerto Rico had been confronting a severe economic crisis surging for over a decade. This crisis, referred to as La Crisis Boricua, was characterized by a significant loss of industry and jobs, a deteriorating infrastructure, record net outmigration, a shrinking and rapidly aging population, rising healthcare under-coverage, a bankrupt government, and federal legislation restricting fiscal policy decisions made by elected officials on the island. Thus, Hurricane Maria exacerbated the effects of La Crisis Boricua on the socioeconomic, health, and demographic outcomes affecting Puerto Ricans on the island and U.S. mainland. Bringing together scholars from a wide variety of disciplines (including economics, sociology, demography, health, psychology, disaster research, political science, education, the arts, and others), this volume represents one of the first interdisciplinary sets of studies dedicated to analyzing the effects of Hurricane Maria on island and stateside Puerto Ricans. Specific topics cover Hurricane Maria’s impact on labor market outcomes, including wages and employment by industry; health implications, including mental health; changes in artistic expression; civic engagement; and disaster response and recovery. A common thread through many of the chapters was the destruction of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid and the prolonged restoration of electricity and other essential services that resulted in the loss of thousands of lives.