Social Conflict and Populist Policies in Latin America / Jeffrey D. Sachs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sachs, Jeffrey D.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w2897.

NBER working paper series no. w2897

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic policy.

Social conflict.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1989.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1989.

Summary:

The central hypothesis of this paper is that high income inequality in Latin America contributes to intense political pressures for macroeconomic policies to raise the incomes of lower income groups, which in turn contributes to bad policy choices and weak economic performance. The paper looks in detail at one common type of policy failure: the populist policy cycle. This particular type of Latin American policymaking, characterized by overly expansionary macroeconomic policies which lead to high inflation and severe balance of payments crises, has been repeated so often, and with such common characteristics, that it plainly reveals the linkages from social conflict to poor economic performance.

Notes:

Print version record

March 1989.