This is a primer for our Action Dialogue webinars on how earthquakes in the South of Puerto Rico are affecting economic development, housing, federal aid, education, agriculture, and the upcoming census. 

In this first session, José Caraballo Cueto (Ph.D. in Economics) will discuss the socio-economic profile of a region with significantly higher levels of poverty than the rest of Puerto Rico. As an example, Guánica is the poorest municipality on the island, Yauco’s unemployment rate is 24% and Guayanilla and Ponce have child poverty rates of 69.1% and 52%, respectively.

Biography

José Caraballo-Cueto completed a Ph.D. in economics at The New School for Social Research in 2013, where he specialized in econometrics (a branch of statistics) and development, obtaining honors in the latter. He has obtained grants from the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development based in New York, the Youth Institute of Puerto Rico, and the Foundation Network of Puerto Rico, among five other grants to study development-related topics. He recently was recognized as an “emerging scholar in the U.S.” by the magazine Diverse Issues. He has published ten peer-reviewed articles in international outlets and has presented more than 60 conferences. He is the past president of the Puerto Rico Association of Economists and a regular contributor to the research platform “Econolatin”, managed by the Autonomous University of Madrid. He had more than 60 presentations in academic conferences in different countries including in Yale University, Rutgers University, in the American States Organization, and in the United Nations. Dr. Caraballo was the General Coordinator of the first Human Development Report of Puerto Rico, a multi-sectoral research project done in tandem with the United Nations. He also worked as a Statistical Project Manager in the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, where he was Chair of the Subcommittee of Economic Statistics. He is a member of several academic associations and a regular speaker to radio and TV shows.