Some Charts for the Morning: Latin American Economies
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, March 3, 2015
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5 comments
Via The Telegraph: Colombia: from failed state to Latin American powerhouse
Some regional comparisons:
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Amazing what decent government and peace will do. Kudos to Senor Santos. Have you been advising them, Steve?
Why are Ecuador and Peru doing so well, is it oil? I hadn’t thought they were producing that much yet.
In Ecuador’s case, it’s probably because of oil and the wiping out of the national debt. The latter cost them access to capital markets for a few years, but now they’re back in. And while Rafael Correa is a thin-skinned, censorious asshole, he seems to be fairly competent in other matters as the country’s president.
Dr. Taylor –
I realize that it is easy to draw a conclusion about a relationship between Venezuala’s authoritarian political climate and their economic stagnation, however I am more curious about the other end of the spectrum.
Since you’ve been studying comparative government frameworks, have you examined the relationship between varying forms of representational government and their economic prospects? i.e. is there something about the political climates of, say, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (as noted in the tables) that makes them more similar to each other than any of them are to Brasil or Argentina?
(Note, I consider “wait for my book to come out!” to be an acceptable response.)
What can you say? Juan Manuel Santos is a capitalist and Ecuador has oil.