discovery, and achievement in our country. through the fiscal crisis, into the 1980s and to the present day, the city maintained its status as a center of culture and the arts. the efforts of the city and the state, starting in the mid - 1980s, to redevelop the theatre district and times square area played an important role in revitalizing tourism. but, of course, the city ’ s well - deserved reputation for culture and arts goes well beyond broadway — to the hundreds of off - broadway and neighborhood theaters, museums, music venues and organizations like yours. supporting this cultural infrastructure is important to maintaining a vibrant economy and a bright future. the experience of new york city, which has gone from crisis to vibrancy, shows that the past need not be prologue for the future. it also shows that a well - managed regime of fiscal control can help begin the process for future recovery. other cities and regions are at different points in this journey. puerto rico, for example, which has been in recession for many years and which defaulted on its debt obligations earlier this year, is at a particularly critical juncture. on the positive side, the fact that congress has enacted legislation, the puerto rico oversight, management and economic stability act, or promesa, does provide a way forward. the prospect for good fiscal stewardship has improved and this is an essential first step in the island ’ s recovery. as i have noted elsewhere, there are significant opportunities for action that can leverage the island ’ s strengths to foster economic growth. these include its bilingual adult population, an open economy occupying a central position in the caribbean, wide experience as host to international corporations and close economic ties to the u. s. mainland. however, much as new york city took time to recover, so too will it take time for puerto rico to recover from its crisis of the last decade. the future of puerto rico is yet to be determined. however, the experience of new york city suggests that a turnaround is possible even when underlying conditions appear dire. new york city is a compelling example of what is possible when you leverage your citizens ’ ingenuity and capacity for reinvention. it shows what can be achieved with the appropriate discipline and effort. thank you for your kind attention. 1 jason bram, andrew haughwout, joseph tracy and luis uranga assisted in preparing these remarks. 2 raj chetty, nathaniel hendren, patrick kline and emmanuel saez. “ where is

s resilience, we need to take a look back at one of the darkest periods in new york city ’ s history : the 1970s. i remember new york city in the 1970s from my freshman days at columbia university. columbia was a great place to be a young student. there were engaging professors and i had the opportunity to read the great books of the university ’ s core contemporary civilization curriculum. recognizing the strong literary traditions of the lotos club, i would also note that i had the fortune of reading some of the great works of middle english, including chaucer. i also enjoyed being on both the freshman wrestling and golf teams — even if it was an odd pairing and our teams were not very good. in contrast to columbia, the city seemed much less attractive. from my perspective as a naive 17 - year - old from suburban massachusetts, it seemed outright dangerous and dirty. the danger was driven home immediately. one of my roommates was robbed his first day during a walk through one of the nearby parks. he didn ’ t understand, nor did i at the time, that certain places near columbia weren ’ t very safe, even during daylight hours. while you could avoid the crime by being careful where you went in the city, there was no avoiding the pollution. during this period, new york city still had considerable manufacturing activity, many apartment buildings burned low - grade oil and incinerated trash, and this was before the days of automobile catalytic converters. this confluence meant that grit was 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches everywhere, and even for the non - fastidious — which i admit i was one — showers were an absolute necessity on a daily basis. sometimes it was so bad that you couldn ’ t see across the hudson river, which was just a few blocks away! in order to understand the situation the city faced in the 1970s, we have to look back a decade earlier. the 1960s were a time of hope and promise for new york city, with the world ’ s fair, the opening of the verrazano bridge, and the beginning of construction of the world trade center. the city benefited from a booming stock market and strong overall job growth. my memories of new york city during that period were very glowing. visiting from massachusetts, i remember going to the world ’ s fair and to a mets game at the new shea stadium — heady stuff for an 11 - year - old. as a boy who planned to be a nuclear physicist when he