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Social conflict and populist policies in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey D. Sachs

Abstract

The central hypothesis of this paper is that high income inequality in LatinAmerica contributes to intense political pressures for macroeconomic policies to raise theincomes of lower income groups, which in turn contributes to bad policy choices and weakeconomic performance. The paper looks in detail at one common type of policy failure: thepopulist policy cycle. This particular type of Latin American policymaking, characterized byoverly expansionary macroeconomic policies which lead to high inflation and severe balanceof payments crises, has been repeated so often, and with such common characteristics, that itplainly reveals the linkages from social conflict to poor economic performance. JEL Classification: P16; O21; O11; D72; E31.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1990. "Social conflict and populist policies in Latin America," Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Center of Political Economy, vol. 10(1), pages 3-28.
  • Handle: RePEc:ekm:repojs:v:10:y:1990:i:1:p:3-28:id:1522
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political economy; income distribution; inflation; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • O21 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Planning Models; Planning Policy
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

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