The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Political Economy

by Santiso, Javier; Dayton-Johnson, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9780199747504
• ISBN10: 0199747504
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Latin America's recent development performance calls for a multidisciplinary analytical tool kit. This handbook accordingly adopts a political-economy perspective to understand Latin American economies. This perspective is not new to the region; indeed, this volume consciously follows the approach pioneered by political economist Albert O. Hirschman a half century ago. But the nature of the political and economic processes at work in Latin America has changed dramatically since Hirschman's critical contribution. Military dictatorships have given way to an uneven democratic consolidation; agricultural or primary-product producers have transformed into middle-income, diversified economies, some of which are leading examples of emerging markets. So, too, the tools of political-economy have developed by leaps and bounds. It is therefore worthwhile to take stock of, and considerably extend, the explosion of recent scholarship on the two-way interaction between political processes and economic performance. A unique feature of the book is that it begins with a group of chapters written by high-level academic experts on Latin American economics and policies who also happen to be current or past economic policy makers in the region, including Fernando Henrique Cardoso (former president of Brazil), Andrés Velasco (former Chilean finance minister), Luis Carranza (former Peruvian finance minister), Martín Redrado (former governor of the Argentina central bank) and Luciano Coutinho (president of Brazil's national development bank). These contributors draw upon their academic expertise to understand their experience in the trenches of policy making.

Author Biography

Javier Santiso is a leading specialist on emerging markets and on Latin America in particular. He is a professor of economics at the ESADE Business School (Madrid) and director of the ESADE Centre for Global Economy and Geopolitics He was formerly Director and Chief Economist at the OECD Development Centre. In 2009 he was recognized as one of the Young Global leaders by the World Economic Forum and in 2010 he was named one of the most influential intellectuals by Foreign Policy.

Jeff Dayton-Johnson is a development economist who has worked extensively on Latin America as well as other parts of the developing world. He is an associate professor of international trade and development at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. His published research covers many areas, including international migration, inequality, fiscal policy, natural disasters, foreign aid, social cohesion, cultural policy, irrigation, and local management of natural resources.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. ix
Introduction	p. 3
The View from the Inside: Practitioners Reflect on Making Reform Happen
Political Leadership and Economic Reform: The Brazilian Experience in the Context of Latin America	p. 13
Politics of Fiscal Reforms in Peru	p. 43
The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy: The Experience of Chile	p. 68
Industrial Policy and Economic Transformation	p. 100
Monetary Policy under Uncertainty	p. 133
The Politics of Economics: Historical, Geographical, Institutional Approaches
A Historical Perspective on the Political Economy of Inequality in Latin America	p. 149
Cuban Economic Policies, 1990-2010: Achievements and Shortcomings	p. 168
Global and Regional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1990-2010	p. 191
Does Asia Matter? The Political Economy of Latin Americas International Relations	p. 210
A Catalyst for Hope: China's Opportunity for Latin America	p. 233
The Politics of Economics and the Economics of Politics
How (Not) to Produce Effective Policies? Institutions and Policymaking in Latin America	p. 263
The Politics of Global Financial Markets in Latin America	p. 285
Cabinet Stability and Policymaking in Latin America	p. 310
International Capital Markets and Their Latin American Discontents	p. 336
Natural Resources and Democracy in Latin America: Neither Curse Nor Blessing	p. 367
Contrasting Capitalisms: Latin America in Comparative Perspective	p. 381
Ulysses and the Sirens: Political and Technical Rationality in Latin America	p. 403
Political Economy of Fiscal and Social Policies
Killing Me Softly: Local Termites and Fiscal Violence in Brazil and Mexico	p. 457
The Political Economy of Public Spending and Fiscal Deficits: Lessons for Latin America	p. 503
Taxation and Democracy in Latin America	p. 532
Revisiting Political Budget Cycles in Latin America	p. 557
Labor Markets in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Missing Reform	p. 585
Index	p. 609
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