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Neoliberalism is a political-economic philosophy that consists of two claims: one economic and the other political. The economic claim is: that free market laissez faire economies are the best way to organize economic activity as they generate efficient outcomes that maximize well-being. The political claim is: that free market economic arrangements promote individual liberty. This paper argues both claims are problematic. The evidence from the forty-year experiment that began in 1980 shows neo liberalism has undercut shared prosperity and unleashed illiberal forces that threaten liberty. The paper distinguishes between the first political turn which saw the establishment of neoliberal political hegemony, and the second one toward proto-fascism that we are now experiencing. The second turn is being driven by a collection of factors that have created a demand for proto-fascism and weakened the defenses against alt-right ideas. Those factors include socio-economic disembedding, institutional destruction and political disembedding, increased economic inequality that tilts political power, an alteration in attitudes to government and governance, transformation of economic identity, and a cultural transformation that celebrates sociopathic egotism. The Third Way's capture of center-left politics means liberal elites occupy the political place that should be held by true opponents of neoliberalism. Those liberal elites obstruct the politics needed to reverse the deep causes of the drift to proto-fascism. Ironically, that makes those elites a real danger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing Mexico's productive structure in the 1980s and 2013, this paper explores whether promoting the domestic market may complement the dynamism of the external sector and achieve a process of sustained growth and development for an economy highly integrated into the international market. The methodology applied is an extension of the input-output model and network analysis; in particular, the concept of vertically integrated sectors is a major feature to reach conclusions. The results show that stimulating the domestic market can be a complementary strategy for promoting the export sector to boost growth and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the decline of the labor income share (LIS) in Mexico during the 1990-2015 period. The decline is mostly explained by reductions within the economy's major sectors (including manufacturing, tradables, and non-tradables), rather than by a recomposition of value added towards sectors with low labor shares. In contrast to agriculture --where LIS fell due to a shift of labor force from self-employment to wage-employment-- in other major areas of the economy the fall in LIS is explained by reductions within the wage-employment sector. Econometric estimations indicate that parallel declines in the wage share and relative productivity of non-tradables and in the US manufacturing labor share all played a large role in the reduction of the manufacturing wage share in Mexico. More generally, the analysis suggests that the lagging productivity of the economy's informal non-tradable sector --itself a reflection of the country's low aggregate rate of economic growth-- is a crucial factor in the fall of LIS in the formal sectors. The paper concludes by discussing possible explanations for the paradox of the slow rate of economic growth in Mexico despite the rise in the profit share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different international organizations and national governments are promoting the adoption of open government strategies. There are rankings to measure the evolution of some of its dimensions, but there is a gap of indicators comprising open data, transparency, participation and collaboration simultaneously. In this paper we propose the Open Government and Participation Index (ogpi), based on previous academic works, to compare open government strategies over time and among different countries. The index, which weighs different open government dimensions, is built for a sample of 33 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (oecd) from open and consistent sources. The results show that the areas of transparency and open data have a wide room for improvement and that participation and collaboration strategies require an autonomous approach. By region, open government is more developed in the Commonwealth countries, while those in Eastern Europe present the lowest level of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frustration in Latin America with neoliberal economic reforms has reawakened a number of debates, especially about inequality (Palma, 2019a) and productivity growth --in 2018, the region's average productivity was just 8% higher than in 1980, equivalent to an annual average growth rate of just 0.2%--. Meanwhile, in the previous cycle, from 1950 to 1980, productivity levels more than doubled, with an annual growth rate of 2.8%. One of these debates is related to the problem of deindustrialization --in particular, the question of whether it is "premature" or if it includes a component of "Dutch disease"--. This paper analyses the role of manufacturing in economic growth, and shows the dynamics of that deindustrialization in high-income as well as middle-income countries. It concludes that the success of emerging Asia is rooted in its ideological pragmatism, which led it in the 1980s and early 1990s to use reforms as a mechanism for strengthening and accelerating their already ambitious processes of industrialization --not for carrying out a "non-creative destruction" of their manufacturing, as happened in almost all of Latin America--. This in spite of the fact that many of the industrialization processes in emerging Asia suffered, in its time, from similar problems to those experienced by Latin American industrialization, if not worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper assesses the sustainability of the Spanish economic development model for the period 1980-2010. Moreover, we carry out a comparative analysis with the biggest European economies: France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom. Methods: In order to achieve the aim of this paper, co-integration techniques have been applied. Through these techniques, we have analyzed the long-term relationship between consumption of renewable and non-renewable and economic development and pollution during the period 1980-2010. After a selection process, for Spain we have used to measure growth the GDP and the Gross Capital Formation; to measure development, the Index of Human Development and Social Capital; for pollution, the emissions of CO2 and consumption of renewable energy in the electricity system and oil consumption for the consumption of renewable and non-renewable, respectively. Secondly, we have compared the results obtained for the Spanish economy with the four biggest economies in the European Union: Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Given the availability of data for these countries Gross Capital Formation and Human Development Index have been excluded from the analysis. Results: First, a positive impact of consumption of renewable and renewable energy on growth and development is found for the five countries under study, with a greater impact of non-renewable energy. For the three countries for which the data for CO2 emissions are available (Spain, France and the UK), it is observed that the reducing effect of renewable energy on CO2 emissions is less than the polluting effect of non-renewable energy. Second, for Spain, Germany and France, the data point out a feedback process between the consumption of non-renewable and growth and development, which is not observed with the consumption of renewable energy. Conclusions: In order to reconcile the objective of growth with the reduction of pollution, more moderate growth rates are required. The growth model of the countries analyzed stimulates consumption of non-renewable energy, but not renewable. This result points out the requirement of designing policies that encourage the substitution of non-renewable energy by renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international financial crisis of 2008-09 exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the current paradigm of development in Latina America, a paradigm based on liberalized capital accounts and significantly improved macroeconomic conditions. This paper presents lessons derived from the crisis, not only for the region it self, but also for other developing countries that might seek economic growth in the context of greater integration to the international capital markets. Some of the lessons are not new but have been reinforced by the crisis, such as Latin America's imperative need for export diversification (not only in products but in partners). Other lessons break with longstanding myths about the region, such as its inability to undertake counter-cyclical policies -at least on the monetary side. Yet other lessons reflect new developments in the current growth paradigm, such as a renewed assessment of (1) the relative roles of foreign and domestic banks in shielding the financial system against external shocks and (2) the potential costs of adopting blanket international financial regulations that do not account for a country's degree of development. Taken together, the lessons in this paper bring a new sense of optimism for growth in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the growth slowdown of the Mexican economy during the reform and post reform periods. It addresses four possible factors behind the growth deceleration. First, the role of international trade integration, showing that the trade policy reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were in fact very successful in enhancing export growth and trade openness but not in promoting a dynamic pattern of trade specialization. Second, the productivity growth slowdown, arguing that this should be seen as a consequence rather than a cause of the growth deceleration as the evolution of productivity growth is closely associated with the expansion of tertiary underemployment. Third, the discussion of the role of human capital formation suggests that educational and health indicators have been improving during the recent period, partly as a consequence of the demographic bonus, and cannot be held responsible for the fall in output per worker that has taken place since the early 1980s. Finally, the paper focuses on what it believes is the primary determinant of the growth slowdown, the low rate of physical capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the usual hypotheses in standard economic growth theory is that labor force follows exponential growth. This is an unrealistic assumption because growing exponentially population can be arbitrarily large. In this paper we reformulate the neoclassical Solow model of economic growth by assuming that the law describing population growth verifies two stylized facts: i) population is strictly increasing and bounded and ii) the rate of growth of population is strictly decreasing to zero. The main result of the paper is the proof of the convergence of capital per worker to a constant value independently of the initial condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America has been dominated by growth expansions that, more often than not, have ended in crises and protracted periods of stagnation. This has led to poor growth performance during most of the past century. This paper reviews Latin American growth experiences and discusses some particular areas that help to explain why sustainable growth has been so elusive in the region. In particular, it discusses the role of openness and intraregional trade, the role of institutions, macroeconomic stability and inequality, all factors that are central to resume and maintain growth. The paper also discusses more general issues related to growth, such as the importance of protecting property rights and having an adequate structure of rewards to effort, which includes equal opportunities. Finally, a brief overview on current macroeconomic developments is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between exports and economic growth for the case of Guatemala and El Salvador, emphasizing the quantification of spillover effects. Cointegration vectors are estimated for each country, which includes the variables exports, GDP, public investment and private investment. It was found that one cointegration vector exists in each country. Error correction models were estimated including the error term from the other country's cointegration vector as an indicator of "excess demand". The cointegration vectors were re-estimated, including in each case the exports variable from the neighbor country. The existence of one cointegration vector was inferred for both countries. The paper concludes stressing the interdependence of economic variables gives rise to an interdependence of national social policies, and arguing for the convenience of establishing policy coordination framework on a Central American scale, with view towards utilizing economic interdependece to impart more dynamism to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the changes in the Chilean economy specialization patterns mainly in the period of fastest economic growth and taking into account its relative abundance of productive factors. There are three important findings in this paper that are relevant for natural resources abundant, fast-growing economies. First, we find that even there is a great degree of heterogeneity in output and productivity growth across economic activities, the most dynamic sectors are those more intensive in natural resources. In contrast, labor-intensive sectors are more likely to experience economic contractions. Second, consistent with international evidence, our results suggest that significant changes in Chilean specialization patterns are possible only if the economy increases substantially the investment in both physical and human capital. Third, we do not find evidence that necessarily the tradable sector is an engine of growth. In fact, for a large part of the period under analysis, the non-tradable sector had experienced more rapid output and productivity growth than the tradable sector. This would be consistent with a number of structural reforms (privatization and liberalization of foreign direct investment) that favored expansion in non tradable sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the effects of uncertainty of economic growth and inflation on average rates of output growth and inflation, using quarterly data of Argentina, during the last three decades. The paper employs a GARCH-M model (VAKMA model) that permits to test diagonally and symmetry relationships between the variables. The results suggest that increased growth uncertainty is associated with significantly higher average output growth (theory of precautionary savings), while higher inflation uncertainty is correlated with lower average output growth (Okun, 1971, and Friedman, 1977, arguments). Both inflation and economic growth show evidence of significant asymmetric response to positive and negative shocks of equal magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few ideas and activities have received as hyperbolic praise as that presented by Hernando de Soto on informality. Nobel laureates in economics, presidents of various countries, important magazines, and multilateral organizations have endorsed this author's impulse towards the official registration of the property or the poor, particularly, their homes, as the key to launching a worldwide economic revolution from below. In this paper we present the institutional backing of those ideas, the analytic substance behind the main arguments involved, the descriptive accuracy of the institutions operating in the Third World, and the results of their application. In this way, we evaluate the relationship between the spread and power of an idea and its formal content, and its effectiveness in changing the world of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile has pioneered the implementation of emission offseting programs pursuing simultaneously economic growth and environmental protection. In this paper, emission trading programs implemented in Santiago of Chile are analyzed and its relevance for developing countries is evaluated. It is argued that emission trading programs can be the best tool to deal with air pollution problems even in cases in which the institutional capacities are not well developed. Moreover, the inclusion of the transport system into the emission trading programs and the possibility of moving towards a system of interpollutant exchange are both nouvelle and relevant elements in the context of air pollution control policies. However, these innovations involve rather more complex elements in the design of emission trading programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After some decades of being almost forgotten, since the late eighties, the issue of economic growth has resurged again in the theoretical and empiric investigation worldwide. Nevertheless, in countries like Mexico very little applied research has been carried out; due to the fact, perhaps, that there are no existing official series of capital stock. This paper estimates the Mexican capital stock for 1980.I-2004.IV through the modified perpetual-inventory method suggested by Almon (1999). The outcome is statistic and economically consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Input-Output model assumes that as economic systems develops, the technical coefficient matrix changes following either of two tendencies; one, the entries of the matrix shrink due to increased efficiency on the production lines; two, they expand, while productivity gains concentrate in the use of factors (nonproduced inputs). Further, the economic structure grows more complex as industries become more tightly (vertically) integrated and the development process evolves. Both phenomena have seldom been analysed together despite the apparent connections those may have with the evolution of economic structures and the development opportunities countries may face. This paper intend to examine the implications of these tendencies on the evolution of the economic systems in regards to the dynamics the growth process may adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If finance is crucial to growth, as a large literature has demonstrated, then why is there wide variance in financial development across countries? Why have governments not put the appropriate policies into place to encourage the development of banks and securities markets? This paper addresses this question by exploring the development of the Mexican banking system from the 1880s to the present. It argues that the institutions that encourage financial development cannot be created at the stroke of a pen. Rather, the creation of institutions that encourage financial development are dependent upon other institutions that limit the authority and discretion of the government. In short, political institutions that constrain government are a necessary condition for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the episodes of economic growth in Guatemala over the last fifty years, with special emphasis in the post-1999 deceleration. The results show two important facts. First, there are good reasons to believe that this phenomenon may be temporary. Second, the post-1999 deceleration has an internal component linked to deteriorated competitiveness and lower levels of efficiency. Based on these results, we conclude that important reforms must be made in areas related to the absorption of new technologies, economic regulation, the public sector, financial markets, trade openness, and labor markets. These reforms are likely to result in greater levels of productivity and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper follows the macroeconomic variables tradition of the APT of Ross (1976a), which has the advantage (in comparison with the Factor Analysis approach) of allowing an economic interpretation of both the common factors and the risk premia. Similar to Burmeister and McElroy (1988), we consider four measured macroeconomic factors, and one unobserved factor. The existence of unobserved factors is a generalization of the previous work by Chen, Roll and Ross (1986). We test the restrictions that the APT imposes on a general factor model in the period 1990-2003. In addition, the CAPM is nested in the APT, which allows us to test the CAPM. Our empirical results are: (a) the APT restriction is not rejected by the data, (b) the innovations in the rate of growth of the Imacec (a monthly indicator of general economic growth), of the price of copper, and of the price of oil, are priced factors in the sample, while the innovation in inflation rates does not have a statistically significant premium in the sample, and (c) the CAPM is strongly rejected by the data, in favor of the APT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes economic development through a co-evolutionary process where formal institutions linked to the rule of law are transformed jointly with cultural values. This type of dynamic makes possible to attain multiple equilibriums and, hence, economic backwardness is explained by the presence of an "opportunistic" culture that coexists in an environment where illegality prevails. By means of an evolutionary game theory model, it is shown that a low income per-capita scenario is very difficult to eradicate. This is the case because of the existence of a cultural inertia generated by the co-evolution itself, and because of the relevance that remote factors (sociocultural and geographical) have on determining the probability that the economy can move following certain growth path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]