Revised draft: 24 October 2005
Kenneth A. Reinert
Phone: 703-993-8212
Email: kreinert@gmu.edu
Office: 262
Office hours: M 7:00-8:00 and by appointment
Home page: http://mason.gmu.edu/~kreinert
"The economic development of Latin America
since
independence is a story of unfulfilled
promise." Victor Bulmer-Thomas, The
Economic History of Latin America Since
Independence.
Course Description
This course is an overview
of political economy and economic integration in Latin America. It
is very broad in its scope.
We will cover economic history, development theories as applied to
Latin America, trade, debt,
structural adjustment, poverty, agrarian reform, and regional trade
agreements including NAFTA,
Mercosur, and the FTAA. While not abandoning standard
economic theory, we will
emphasize
the role of institutions and path dependence throughout
the course. No one
“ideological”
tradition will be given emphasis over others.
Main Texts
P. Franko, The Puzzle
of
Latin American Economic Development, Rowman and
Littlefield, New York,
2003.
P.-P. Kuczynski and J.
Williamson
(eds.), After the Washington Consensus: Restarting
Growth in Latin
America,
Institute
for International Economics, Washington, DC, 2003.
Supplementary Text
Reinert, K.A.,
Windows
on the World Economy: An Introduction to International Economics,
South-Western Thomson, 2005.
Books on Reserve
Bulmer-Thomas, V., The
Economic History of Latin America Since Independence,
Cambridge University
Press,
Cambridge,
1994.
Cardoso, E. and A. Helwege, Latin America's Econmy, MIT Press, 1992.
Costin, H. and H. Vanolli (eds.), Economic Reform in Latin America, Dryden, 1998.
Hufbauer, G.C. and J.J.
Schott,
NAFTA:
An Assessment, Institute for International
Economics, Washington,
DC, 1993. Note: A new version of this is forthcoming.
Roett, R. (ed.),
MERCOSUR:
Regional Integration, World Markets, Lynne Rienner
Publishers, Boulder, 1999.
Sheahan, J., Patterns
of
Development in Latin America, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1987.
Stallings, B. and W. Perez,
Growth,
Employment, and Equity: The Impact of the
Economic Reforms
in Latin
America and the Caribbean, Brookings Institution,
Washington, DC,
2000.
Some Important Journals
Integration and
Trade
(Arlington campus library)
Journal of Interamerican
Studies and World Affairs (Fenwick library)
Journal of Latin American
Studies (Fenwick library)
Latin American Research
Review (Fenwick library)
Relevant Websites
Acción
International
Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
Inter-American
Development Bank
Latin
American and Caribbean Economic Association
Organization
of American States
Organization
for Tropical Studies
Pan
American Health Organization
ProMujer
United
Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Course Requirements and Grading
Evaluation of performance
in
the course will be based on a midterm exam (30 percent), a final
exam (30 percent), a country
briefing paper (20 percent), and participation (20 percent). For
Ph.D. students, participation
constitutes 10 percent of the grade, with reading reports making
up the last 10 percent.
Course Outline and Readings
Introduction (1 September)
Mini-lecture on the Washington consensus
Williamson, J.,
"Overview:
An Agenda for Restarting Growth and Reform," in Kuczynski and
Williamson, 1-19.
Kuczynski, P.-P., "Setting the Stage," Chapter 1 in Kuczynski and Williamson, 21-32.
Williamson, J., "Our Agenda
and the Washington Consensus," Appendix to Kuczynski and
Williamson, 323-331.
Ph.D. Students:
Williamson, J., "What
Should
the World Bank Think about the Washington Consensus?"
World Bank Research
Observer,
15:2, 2000, 251-264, available online.
Lindauer, D.L. and L. Pritchett, “What’s the Big Idea? The Third
Generation of Policies
for Economic
Growth,” Economia: Journal of the Latin
American and
Economic Association,
2002, 3:1, 1-28.
History and Overview (8 September)
Mini-lecture: Institutional Economics
Chapter 1 of Franko, "Development in Latin America."
Chapter 2 of Franko, "Historical Legacies."
Chapter 1 of Bulmer-Thomas,
“Latin American Economic Development: An Overview,” on
e-reserves.
Ph.D. Students:
Hirschman, A., “The
Political
Economy of Latin American Development: Seven Exercises in
Retrospection,” Latin
American
Research Review, 22:3, 1987, 7-36. Available on JSTOR.
Yeager, T., "Economienda or
Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in
Sixteenth Century Spanish
America," Journal of Economic History, 55:4, 1995, 842-859.
Available on JSTOR.
See also:
Blackburn, R., The Making of New World Slavery,
Verso, 1997.
Galeano, E., Open Veins of Latin America,
Monthly Review Press, 1997.
Import Substitution Industrialization (15 September)
Mini-lecture: ISI in Theory
Chapter 3 of Franko, "Import Substitution Industrialization."
Chapter 9 of
Bulmer-Thomas,
"Inward-Looking Development in the Postwar Period," on
e-reserves.
Ph.D. Students:
Bruton, H.J., “A
Reconsideration
of Import Substitution,” Journal of Economic Literature, 36:2,
1998, 903-936. Available on
JSTOR.
Hirschman, A.O., "The
Political
Economy of Imort Substituting Industrialization in Latin America,"
Quarterly Journal of
Economics,
82:1, 1968, 1-32. Available on JSTOR.
See also:
Chapter 20 of Reinert, "Growth, Trade, and Development."
Cypher, J.M. and J.L.
Dietz,
"The Initial Structural Transformation," Chapter 9 of The Process
of Economic
Development,
Routledge, London, 2004, 248-279.
Debt and Stabilization (22 September)
Mini-lecture: Open Economy Accounts and the Monetarist-Structuralist Debate
Chapter 4 of Franko, "Latin America's Debt Crisis."
Chapter 5 of Franko, "Price Stabilization."
Rojas-Suarez, L., "Monetary
Policy and Exchange Rates: Guiding Principles for a Sustainable
Regime," Chapter 6 of
Kuczynski
and Williamson, 123-155.
Ph.D. Students:
Bulmer-Thomas, Chapter 10, "New Trade Strategies and Debt-Led Growth."
Bulmer-Thomas, Chapter 11, "Debt, Adjustment, and Recovery."
Lustig, N., "Crises and
the
Poor: Socially Responsible Macroeconomics," Economía,
1:1,
2000, 1-30.
Massad, C., "The
Liberalization of the Capital Account in Chile in the 1990s," in S.
Fischer
et al., Should the IMF Pursue
Capital-Account Convertibility?,
International Finance, 207, May 1998, 34-46.
See also:
Chapter 12 of Reinert, "Accounting Frameworks."
The State in Latin America (29 September)
Mini-lecture: The Order of Economic Liberalization
Chapter 6 of Franko, "The Role of the State."
Kuczynski, P.-P., "Reforming the State," Chapter 2 of Kuczynski and Williamson, 33-47.
Artana, D., R. López
Murphy, and F. Navajas, "A Fiscal Policy Agenda," Chapter 4 of
Kuczynski and Williamson,
75-101.
Ph.D. Students:
Fishlow, A., "The Latin
American
State," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4:3,
Summer 1990. Available through
JSTOR.
Hausmann, R. and E. Stein,
"Searching for the Right Budgetary Institutions for a Volatile
Region," in R.
Hausmann and H. Reisen
(eds.), Securing Stability and Growth in Latin
America, OECD,
Paris, 1996, 247-266.
The New Openness (6 October)
Mini-lecture: Exchange Rates
Chapter 7 of Franko, "New International Capital Flows."
Chapter 8 of Franko, "Contemporary Trade Policy."
Chapter 9 of Franko, "International Industrial Competitiveness."
Bouzas, R. and S. Keifman,
"Making Trade Liberalization Work," Chapter 7 of Kuczynski
and Williamson,
157-179.
Ph.D. Students:
Hojman, D.E., "The
Political
Economy of Recent Conversions to Market Economics in Latin
America," Journal of Latin
American Studies, 26:1, 1994, 191-219. Available on JSTOR.
Schamis, H.E.,
"Distributional
Conflict and the Politics of Economic Reform in Latin America,"
World Politics, 51:2,
1999, 236-268.
See also:
Chapter 13 of Reinert,
"Exchage
Rates and Purchasing Power Parity."
See also: Goldin and
Reinert, "Global
Capital Flows and Development: A Survey,"
Journal
of International Trade and Economic Development, forthcoming.
Midterm (13 October) Briefing Paper Paragraph Due
NAFTA (20 October)
Mini-lecture: Regional Integration
Hufbauer and Schott,
NAFTA:
An Assessment, Chapters 1 and 3, on reserve.
Note: This reading will hopefully be
replaced with the new Hufbauer and Schott
volume to be published in September.
Ramirez, M.D., "Mexico under NAFTA: A Critical
Assessment," Quarterly Review of
Economics and Finance, 43:5, 2003, 863-892.
Available via e-journals.
Ph.D. Students:
Reinert, K.A. and D.W.
Roland-Holst,
“North-South Trade and Occupational Wages: Some
Evidence from North America,”
Review
of International Economics, 6:1, 1998, 74-89.
Reinert, K.A. and
D.W.
Roland-Holst, “NAFTA and Industrial Pollution: Some General
Equilibrium Estimates,”
Journal of
Economic Integration, 16:2, 2001, 165-179.
See also:
Chapter 8 of Reinert, "Regional Trade Agreements"
CATFA, Mercosur and the FTAA (27 October)
Chapter 1 of World Bank, DR-CAFTA:
Challenges and Opportunities for
Central America,
2005.
Leipzing, D.M.,
“Mercosur:
Integration and Industrial Policy,” The World Economy, 20:5,
August 1997, 585-603.
On e-reserves.
Reid, M., "Mercosur:
A Critical Overview," Chatham House Mercosur Study Group,
2002.
Salazar-Xirinachs, J.M. and
J. Tavares de Araujo, "The Free Trade Area of the Americas: A
Latin American Perspective,"
The
World Economy, 22:6, 1999, 783-797. On e-reserves.
Ph.D. Students:
Nogués, J.J., and R.
Quintanilla, "Latin America's Integration and the Multilateral Trading
System,"
in J. de Melo and A.
Panagariya
(eds.), New Dimensions in Regional Integration, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge,
1993, 278-318.
Esteradeordal, A., J. Goto,
and R. Saez, "The New Regionalism in the Americas: The Case of
Mercosur," Journal of
Economic
Integration, 16:2, 2001, 180-202.
Bulmer-Thomas, V., "The
Central
American Common Market: From Closed to Open
Regionalism," World
Development,
26:2, 1998, 313-322. Available through e-journals.
Rural Development (3 November)
Mini-lecture: The Lewis Model, ISI, and Rural Development
Chapter 10 of Franko, "Agricultural Policy."
Chapter 1 of de Ferranti, D. et al., Beyond the City: The Rural Contribution to
Development,
World Bank, 2005. Available on-line and in Spanish.
Ph.D. Students:
Sheahan, Chapter 6, "Ownership I: Land."
Cardoso and Halwege, Chapter 10, "Agrarian Reform."
Echeverria, R.C., "Options
for Rural Poverty Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean,"
CEPAL Review, April
2000, 151-164.
Poverty (11 November)
Chapter 11 of Franko, "Poverty and Inequality."
Birdsall, N. and M.
Székely,
"Bootstraps, Not Band-Aids: Poverty, Equity, and Social Policy,"
Chapter 3 of Kuczynski and
Williamson, 49-73.
Ph.D. Students:
Patricio Korzeniewicz, R.
and
W.C. Smith,
"Poverty,
Inequality, and Growth in Latin America: Searching for the High Road to
Globalization,"
Latin America Research
Review, 35:3, 2000, 7-54.
Sheahan, J. and E.
Iglesias,
"Kinds and Causes of Inequality in Latin America," in N. Birdsall,
C. Graham, and R. Sabot
(eds.),
Beyond
Trade-Offs: Market Reform and Equitable Growth
in Latin America,
Brookings
Institution, Washington, DC, 1998, 29-61.
Lustig, N., O. Arias, and
J.
Rigolini,
"Poverty
Reduction and Economic Growth: A Two-Way Causality,"
Interamerican Development
Bank, 2002.
In Spanish:
Trejos, J.D. and N.
Montiel,
"El Capital de los Pobres in Costa Rica: Acceso, Utilización y
Redimiento," El Trimestre
Económico, 66:3, 1999, 553-617.
Lustig, N., O. Arias, and
J.
Rigolini,
"Reducción
de la Pobreza y Creciemento Económico: La Doble Causalidad,"
Interamerican Development
Bank, 2002.
Health and Education (17 November)
Chapter 12 of Franko, "Health Policy."
Chapter 13 of Franko, "Education Policy."
Wolff, L. and C. de Moura
Castro,
"Education and Training: The Task Ahead," Chapter 8
of Kuczynski and
Williamson,
181-212
Ph.D. Students:
Sheahan, Chapter 2, "Poverty."
Colclough, C., "Education
and
the Market: Which Parts of the Neoliberal Solution Are
Correct?" World Development,
24:4, 1996, 589-610.
Review of Semester (1 December)
Chapter 15 of Franko, "Lessons Learned."
Navia, P. and A. Velasco,
"The
Politics of Second-Generation Reforms," Chapter 10 of
Kuczynski and Williamson,
265-303.
Williamson, J., "Summing
Up,"
Chapter 11 of Kuczynski and Willisamson, 305-321.
Papers Due
(9 December)
Final Exam (15 December)
Briefing Paper
One requirement of
this
course is for you to write a briefing paper on the recent economic
history of a Latin
American country
of your choice or on a narrow economic topic of relevance
to Latin America. The
paper is to be
no longer than 15 double-spaced typed pages. It is to be
written in non-technical
language
suitable
for a policy-maker. A paragraph describing your paper
is due on 13 October.
The paper is
due on 9 December.
An excellent source on the
research and writing process: W.C. Booth, G.G. Colomb, and J.M.
Williams, The Craft of
Research, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2003.
Plagiarism
"All work must be
your
own. Inappropriate use of the work of others without attribution is
plagiarism and a George Mason
University Honor Code violation punishable by expulsion from
the University. All
students
should
familiarize themselves with this Honor
Code provision. To
guard against
plagiarism and to
treat students equitably, written work may be checked against
existing published
materials or digital
databases available through various plagiarism
detection services. Accordingly,
materials
submitted
to all course must be available in
electrionic format."
Please see my link on plagiarism.
Nondiscrimination
Statement
It is my
policy not to discriminate among students based on race, ethnicity,
religious faith,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or
physical ability.