Poverty and economic reforms

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Henry Veltmeyer, James Petras and Steve Vieux

In Latin America the 1980s opened with a crisis in the capacity of governments in the region to make interest payments on their accumulated external debts. Under conditions of this crisis the region experienced a drastic reduction in the rate of capital accumulation, a veritable haemorrhage of resources (a new outflow of over 60 billion dollars), and a drastic deterioration in the standard of living of the population, a large part of which was pushed into poverty. The decade also saw the implementation of a sweeping programme of economic reforms, either imposed as a condition for securing new loans or to embrace the neoliberal doctrine of structural adjustment, the ideology of a newly formed transnational capitalist class. However, this programme also generated widespread resistance, especially from within the popular sector. This book analyses both the politics of the adjustment process and the political dynamics of this resistance in Latin America.

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Colin I. Bradford, Jr

The role of the state in Latin America in formulating economic policy, given the economic, social and political conditions of the 1980s and 1990s.

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Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger

The contributors to this volume analyze the growth experiences of Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan in light of the recently developed endogenous growth theory to provide an understanding of the economic boom in East Asia. The theory explored in this volume attributes the phenomenal economic success of these countries to, among other factors, the role of an outward orientation - a focus on exporting rather than on protecting home markets. In addition, the importance of exchange rate behavior, of the supportive role of government policy, and of the accumulation and promotion of physical and human capital are explored in detail. This collection also makes significant contributions to recent work examining the extent to which growth in each country became self-sustaining once it began. This fourth volume in the NBER-East Asia Seminar on Economics series demonstrates the relevance of endogenous growth theory for studying this important region and will be invaluable for economists and for those interested in East Asian affairs.

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Hélgio Trindade (org

"Wide-ranging collection of essays and conference remarks on the topic of electoral system reform includes contributions by politicians, jurists, and political scientists"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.