The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America

The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America

Author: Rudiger Dornbusch

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0226158489

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Again and again, Latin America has seen the populist scenario played to an unfortunate end. Upon gaining power, populist governments attempt to revive the economy through massive spending. After an initial recovery, inflation reemerges and the government responds with wage an price controls. Shortages, overvaluation, burgeoning deficits, and capital flight soon precipitate economic crisis, with a subsequent collapse of the populist regime. The lessons of this experience are especially valuable for countries in Eastern Europe, as they face major political and economic decisions. Economists and political scientists from the United States and Latin America detail in this volume how and why such programs go wrong and what leads policymakers to repeatedly adopt these policies despite a history of failure. Authors examine this pattern in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru—and show how Colombia managed to avoid it. Despite differences in how each country implemented its policies, the macroeconomic consequences were remarkably similar. Scholars of Latin America will find this work a valuable resource, offering a distinctive macroeconomic perspective on the continuing controversy over the dynamics of populism.


CoMap: Mapping Contagion in the Euro Area Banking Sector

CoMap: Mapping Contagion in the Euro Area Banking Sector

Author: Mehmet Ziya Gorpe

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-05-10

Total Pages: 63

ISBN-13: 1498312071

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This paper presents a novel approach to investigate and model the network of euro area banks’ large exposures within the global banking system. Drawing on a unique dataset, the paper documents the degree of interconnectedness and systemic risk of the euro area banking system based on bilateral linkages. We develop a Contagion Mapping model fully calibrated with bank-level data to study the contagion potential of an exogenous shock via credit and funding risks. We find that tipping points shifting the euro area banking system from a less vulnerable state to a highly vulnerable state are a non-linear function of the combination of network structures and bank-specific characteristics.


Capital Flows at Risk: Taming the Ebbs and Flows

Capital Flows at Risk: Taming the Ebbs and Flows

Author: Mr.R. G Gelos

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-12-20

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 1513522906

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The volatility of capital flows to emerging markets continues to pose challenges to policymakers. In this paper, we propose a new framework to answer critical policy questions: What policies and policy frameworks are most effective in dampening sharp capital flow movements in response to global shocks? What are the near- versus medium-term trade-offs of different policies? We tackle these questions using a quantile regression framework to predict the entire future probability distribution of capital flows to emerging markets, based on current domestic structural characteristics, policies, and global financial conditions. This new approach allows policymakers to quantify capital flows risks and evaluate policy tools to mitigate them, thus building the foundation of a risk management framework for capital flows.


A Model of Growth Through Creative Destruction

A Model of Growth Through Creative Destruction

Author: Philippe Aghion

Publisher: London : Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780771411168

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This paper develops a model based on Schumpeter's process of creative destruction. It departs from existing models of endogenous growth in emphasizing obsolescence of old technologies induced by the accumulation of knowledge and the resulting process or industrial innovations. This has both positive and normative implications for growth. In positive terms, the prospect of a high level of research in the future can deter research today by threatening the fruits of that research with rapid obsolescence. In normative terms, obsolescence creates a negative externality from innovations, and hence a tendency for laissez-faire economies to generate too many innovations, i.e too much growth. This "business-stealing" effect is partly compensated by the fact that innovations tend to be too small under laissez-faire. The model possesses a unique balanced growth equilibrium in which the log of GNP follows a random walk with drift. The size of the drift is the average growth rate of the economy and it is endogenous to the model ; in particular it depends on the size and likelihood of innovations resulting from research and also on the degree of market power available to an innovator.


How Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Economic Growth

How Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Economic Growth

Author: Mr.Eduardo Borensztein

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1994-09-01

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13: 1451853270

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We test the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in a cross-country regression framework, utilizing data on FDI flows from industrial countries to 69 developing countries over the last two decades. Our results suggest that FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. However, the higher productivity of FDI holds only when the host country has a minimum threshold stock of human capital. In addition, FDI has the effect of increasing total investment in the economy more than one for one, which suggests the predominance of complementarity effects with domestic firms.


Growth Slowdowns and the Middle-Income Trap

Growth Slowdowns and the Middle-Income Trap

Author: Mr.Shekhar Aiyar

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2013-03-20

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 1484315804

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The “middle-income trap” is the phenomenon of hitherto rapidly growing economies stagnating at middle-income levels and failing to graduate into the ranks of high-income countries. In this study we examine the middle-income trap as a special case of growth slowdowns, which are identified as large sudden and sustained deviations from the growth path predicted by a basic conditional convergence framework. We then examine their determinants by means of probit regressions, looking into the role of institutions, demography, infrastructure, the macroeconomic environment, output structure and trade structure. Two variants of Bayesian Model Averaging are used as robustness checks. The results—including some that indeed speak to the special status of middle-income countries—are then used to derive policy implications, with a particular focus on Asian economies.


Agriculture and Economic Growth

Agriculture and Economic Growth

Author: Yair Mundlak

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 9780674002289

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Agriculture as a sector; Factor growth and allocation; Technology; Static and dynamic behavior.


Class Wargames

Class Wargames

Author: Richard Barbrook

Publisher:

Published: 2014-12

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781570272936

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Why should radicals be interested in playing wargames? Surely the Left can have no interest in such militarist fantasies? Yet, Guy Debord - the leader of the Situationist International - placed such importance on his invention of The Game of War described it as his most significant of his accomplishment. Intrigued by this claim, a multinational group of artists, activists and academics formed Class Wargames to investigate the political and strategic lessons that could be learnt from playing his ludic experiment. While the ideas of the Situationists continue to be highly influential in the development of subversive art and politics, relatively little attention has been paid to their strategic orientation. Determined to correct this deficiency, Class Wargames is committed to exploring how Debord used the metaphor of the Napoleonic battlefield to propagate a Situationist analysis of modern culture and politics. Inspired by his example its members have also hacked other military simulations: H.G. Wells' Little Wars; Chris Peers' Reds versus Reds and Richard Borg's Commands & Colors. Playing wargames is not a diversion from politics: it is the training ground of tomorrow's communist insurgents. Fusing together historical research on avant-garde artists, political revolutionaries and military theorists with narratives of five years of public performances, Class Wargames provides a strategic and tactical manual for subverting the economic, political and ideological hierarchies of early-21st century neoliberal capitalism. The knowledge required to create a truly human civilisation is there to be discovered on the game board!