Book excerpt: Special 60th Anniversary Edition! The Economic Survey is one of ECLAC's flagship publications, and has been issued since 1948. This new edition covers the region's economic performance in 2007 and the first semester of 2008, and suggests growth estimates for this year. The first chapter is a regional overview, including an analysis of economic policies applied in different countries, and their performance in terms of economic activity, inflation, labor markets, trade and capital flows. The following three chapters deal with the issue of macroeconomic volatility and its relevance in Latin America, empirical evidence of volatility and crisis in the region, and volatility, cycles and policy response. As it is an anniversary edition, the report has an additional special chapter on the 60 years of the Economic Survey. As in each edition, the report also provides data on the economic evolution of each country in the region and includes a statistical