1st Edition

Modern Political Economy And Latin America Theory And Policy

By Jeffry A Frieden Copyright 2000
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    372 Pages
    by Routledge

    Modern Political Economy and Latin America consists of 35 carefully selected readings about the relationship between politics and economics in Latin American. Jeffry Frieden, Manuel Pastor, Jr., and Michael Tomz have edited the readings, organized them thematically, and included a series of introductions to guide readers through the material. The editors identify the theoretical underpinnings of each article and highlight its contribution to ongoing debates. Latin American economies are undergoing profound transformations. In the wake of a decade-long debt crisis, countries through the region are embracing the free market and rebuilding democratic institutions. Nonetheless, significant obstacles to the consolidation of economic and political reform lie ahead. Modern political economy, informed by recent advances in economics and political science, provides powerful tools for analyzing the challenges and opportunities facing Latin America. This book offers an innovative and accessible guide to these new analytical tools.

    Introduction -- Theoretical Perspectives -- Contending Perspectives on Market Failure and Government Failure -- The Origins of Structuralism -- Government Failures in Development -- What Washington Means by Policy Reform -- How Can States Foster Markets? -- Improving the State's Institutional Capability -- Explanations of Government Policy -- The Method of Analysis: Modern Political Economy -- Political Models of Macroeconomic Policy and Fiscal Reforms -- Understanding Economic Policy Reform -- What Do We Know About the Political Economy of Economic Policy Reform? -- Uses and Limitations of Rational Choice -- Applications -- The Political Economy of Growth since Independence -- Obstacles to Economic Growth in Nineteenth-Century Mexico -- Economic Retardation in Nineteenth-Century Brazil -- Factor Endowments, Institutions, and Differential Paths of Growth Among New World Economies: -- Latin American Manufacturing and the First World War -- Latin America in the 1930s -- Foreign Trade and Industrial Policy -- Import Substitution Industrialization -- Was Latin America Too Rich to Prosper? Structural and Political Obstacles to Export-Led Industrial Growth -- The Case for Trade Liberalization in Developing Countries -- The Origins of Mexico's Free Trade Policy -- The Political Economy of MERCOSUR -- Foreign Capital and the Macroeconomy -- Forms of External Capital and Economic Development in Latin America: 1820–1997 -- External Debt and Macroeconomic Performance in Latin America and East Asia -- Inflows of Capital to Developing Countries in the 1990s -- Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries: Progress and Problems -- The Political Economy of Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America -- Political Institutions and Economic Policy -- Challenging the Conventional Wisdom -- Democratic Institutions, Economic Policy, and Development -- A Game Theoretic Model of Reform in Latin American Democracies -- International Capital Flows and the Politics of Central Bank Independence -- Preemptive Strike: Central Bank Reform in Chile's Transition from Authoritarian Rule -- Social and Economic Issues -- Facing Up to Inequality in Latin America -- Income Distribution, Capital Accumulation, and Growth -- Public Finance from a Gender Perspective -- The Political Economy of Environmental Policy Reform in Latin America -- National Factor Markets and the Macroeconomic Context for Environmental Destruction in the Brazilian Amazon

    Biography

    Jeffry A Frieden