The independence of central banks has an effect on the macroeconomic results of economies and ultimately on inflation. A similar relationship may exist between budget institutions and the fiscal performance of governments. Budget institutions may have a bearing on fiscal results. There is...

Some analysts rank Chile as the only Latin American economy that qualifies as a 'take-off economy,' or development economy. In a sense, Chile's enduring success and proved insulation from the 'Tequila effect' are due to its high national savings. What has made Chile's savings so high? What were...

This paper examines how the main characteristics of Argentinas policymaking process (PMP) affect the productivity of its economy using the conceptual framework presented in Murillo, Scartascini and Tommasi (2008), Stein et al. (2008), Spiller and Tommasi (2007), and IDB (2005). First, the paper...

This paper examines the impact of ideology on tax revenues in Latin America, using a panel of 17 countries from 1990 to 2010. As a first approach, a fixed- effects model is used to identify the impact of ideology on taxation; left-leaning governments are associated with increases in total tax...

The presidential politics literature depicts presidents either as all-powerful actors or figureheads and seeks to explain outcomes accordingly. The president and the executive branch are nonetheless usually treated as black boxes, particularly in developing countries, even though the presidency...

Using the 2003 and 2008 Quality of Life Surveys (QLS) conducted by the National Department of Statistics (DANE), this paper identifies the factors that affect housing tenure decisions in Colombia. Households with higher incomes are more likely to purchase than to rent, and the choice of formal...

In contrast to the limited impact of aggregate-level productive development policies (PDPs) in Argentina, micro-level PDPs in several sectors have proven highly successful. This study seeks to understand how these PDPs succeeded in a challenging environment, what kinds of mechanisms were...

Amongst a favorable economic environment, Ecuador's exceptional oil revenues have bolstered fiscal accounts. Several legal changes have created or modified funds or accounts aimed at saving, earmarking, or using oil-related revenues. This paper discusses oil-related fiscal policies,...

This paper analyses the dynamics of policymaking among the various political institutions in Uruguay. The authors find that first, there are relatively stable policies, such as those allowing for the commercial and financial openness of the country. Then there are inflexible and low-quality...

This paper uses joint scaling methods and similar items from three large-scale surveys to place voters, parties and politicians from different Latin American countries on a common ideological space. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the findings reveal that the "median" voter in Latin America...