IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/polsoc/v38y2010i3p373-407.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Averting “Disruption and Reversal†: Reassessing the Logic of Rapid Trade Reform in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Samford

    (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA, ssamford@unm.edu)

Abstract

This study revisits the debate on trade reform in Latin America, focusing specifically on what combinations of conditions were necessary and sufficient for very rapid trade liberalization. It departs significantly from two types of studies that have been previously used to examine Latin American trade reform: (1) those using large samples and linear statistics to test the mean effects of variables on levels of trade protection and (2) those isolating necessary conditions for rapid reform but using a small number of case studies. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and short case studies, the study considers trade policy in sixty-one administrations. It finds that a key motivating factor for rapid trade opening is potential resistance from protected industry; it further identifies several other important enabling conditions, such as hyperinflation, devaluation, and an unconstrained executive. In combination, these enabling conditions are sufficient to account for a high percentage of rapid reform episodes.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Samford, 2010. "Averting “Disruption and Reversal†: Reassessing the Logic of Rapid Trade Reform in Latin America," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(3), pages 373-407, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:38:y:2010:i:3:p:373-407
    DOI: 10.1177/0032329210373071
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032329210373071
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0032329210373071?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tsebelis, George, 1999. "Veto Players and Law Production in Parliamentary Democracies: An Empirical Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(3), pages 591-608, September.
    2. Rudiger Dornbusch, 1992. "The Case for Trade Liberalization in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 69-85, Winter.
    3. Gérard Roland, 2004. "Transition and Economics: Politics, Markets, and Firms," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026268148x, April.
    4. Salvatore,Dominick (ed.), 1993. "Protectionism and World Welfare," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521424899, October.
    5. Fernandez, Raquel & Rodrik, Dani, 1991. "Resistance to Reform: Status Quo Bias in the Presence of Individual-Specific Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1146-1155, December.
    6. Sarah M. Brooks & Marcus J. Kurtz, 2007. "Capital, Trade, and the Political Economies of Reform," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(4), pages 703-720, October.
    7. Salvatore,Dominick (ed.), 1993. "Protectionism and World Welfare," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521414555, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gersbach, Hans & Jackson, Matthew O. & Muller, Philippe & Tejada, Oriol, 2023. "Electoral competition with costly policy changes: A dynamic perspective," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    2. Micael Castanheira & Gaëtan Nicodème & Paola Profeta, 2012. "On the political economics of tax reforms: survey and empirical assessment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(4), pages 598-624, August.
    3. Oatley Thomas, 2010. "Real Exchange Rates and Trade Protectionism," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-19, August.
    4. repec:dgr:rugsom:01c48 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Enrico Colombatto, 2000. "An Explanation of the Dynamics of Protectionism," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 279-293, July.
    6. Salvatore, Dominick, 2002. "Relative taxation and competitiveness in the European Union: what the European Union can learn from the United States," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 401-410, July.
    7. Heboyan, Vahe & Ames, Glenn C.W. & Gunter, Lewell F. & Houston, Jack E., 2001. "U.S. - Mexico Sugar Dispute: Impact Of Nafta On The Sugar Market," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20730, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Ben Armstrong, 2022. "Response to Berglund Letter Regarding “Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence from the Rust Beltâ€," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 36(1), pages 66-69, February.
    9. Kym Anderson & Gordon Rausser & Johan Swinnen, 2013. "Political Economy of Public Policies: Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(2), pages 423-477, June.
    10. Cox, W. Michael & Ruffin, Roy J., 1998. "Country-bashing tariffs: Do bilateral trade deficits matter?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 61-72, October.
    11. Hefeker Carsten, 2019. "Helping with the Homework: Support Mechanisms for Uncertain Reforms in a Monetary Union," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(5-6), pages 983-1004, October.
    12. Steffen Huck & Kai A. Konrad, 2005. "Moral Cost, Commitment, and Committee Size," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 161(4), pages 575-588, December.
    13. Ben Armstrong, 2021. "Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence From the U.S. Rust Belt," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(3), pages 181-196, August.
    14. Vincenzo Galasso, 2014. "The role of political partisanship during economic crises," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 143-165, January.
    15. Daron Acemoglu & Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin, 2015. "Political Economy in a Changing World," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(5), pages 1038-1086.
    16. Marek Dabrowski & Artur Radziwill, 2007. "Regional vs. Global Public Goods: The Case of Post-Communist Transition," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0336, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    17. Valev, Neven, 2004. "No pain, no gain: market reform, unemployment, and politics in Bulgaria," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 409-425, September.
    18. Nathalie Aminian & K. C. Fung & Maurice K. S. Tse, 2016. "The Euro and the Yuan: Some Political Economy Considerations," China Economic Policy Review (CEPR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 1-13, June.
    19. Corrales, Javier & Cisneros, Imelda, 1999. "Corporatism, Trade Liberalization and Sectoral Responses: The Case of Venezuela, 1989-99," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2099-2122, December.
    20. Warwick Mckibbin & Dominick Salvatore, 1995. "The global economic consequences of the Uruguay Round," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 111-129, April.
    21. H.P. Grãœner & C. Hefeker, 1995. "Domestic pressures and the exchange rate regime: why economically bad decisions are politically popular?," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 48(194), pages 331-350.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:38:y:2010:i:3:p:373-407. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.