SOURCE CITATIONS
HARD
TALK FORUM: Francisco R. Rodríguez
Economic Policies of the New Radical Left Will Fail
Fall 2007
FULL REBUTTAL:
In referring to the "radical Left," my
intention has been to distinguish these governments from
the more moderate center-left administrations of Chile, Brazil and
Argentina. Much of the
economic
success of the moderates comes precisely from recognizing the
fundamental role
that markets
play in the development process. It is quite a stretch to
label Argentina's attempts
to maintain a competitive exchange rate a heterodox policy––especially
since competitive
exchange rates were among the famous recommendations of the "Washington
Consensus."(1)
The year before Chávez took office, PDVSA taxes and dividends paid to the
government actually
exceeded the firm's profits by $1.1 billion.(2) The simple truth is
that PDVSA can now pay more
to the government because of the six-fold increase in Venezuelan oil
prices.
The case for government intervention is not bolstered by selectively
citing meaningless
statistics. One cannot draw the line between state-led and
pro-market development strategies
in 1980; Washington Consensus policies were only adopted by the region
after the debt crisis
of the eighties. Private-sector GDP in Venezuela went up in the
series cited by Weisbrot
because per capita oil production in this period declined by 18.6 percent
(mainly due to
government mismanagement of PDVSA). This constant-price series
excludes the effect of oil
price increases.(3) The number of primary schools in Venezuela has not
multiplied by four––
indeed, it has barely increased.(4)
What has grown is the number of schools labeled
"bolivarianas."
REBUTTAL
ENDNOTES:
(1). See Williamson, John (1990)
"What Washington Means by Policy Reform." In John
Williamson, ed., Latin American Adjustment: How Much Has Happened?
Washington, D.C.
Institute for International Economics.
(2). See Petróleos
de Venezuela (2004) Petróleo
y Otros Datos Estadísticos 2004,
p. 93 for
before-divided earnings and p. 99 for divided payments.
(3). See Banco Central de Venezuela (2007) "Producto Interno Bruto
por Clase de Actividad
Económics a precios de 1997, "
http://www.bcv.org.ve/excel/5_2_4.xls?id=332.
(Accessed July
26, 2007)
(4). Escuela de Gerencia Social (2007) "Planteles y centros de
educación públicos de
preescolar, básica y media por entidad federal"
http://www.gerenciasocial.org.ve/bases_datos/gerenciasocial/cuadros/educacion/Planteles.zip
(Accessed July 26, 2007). Note that the increase in establishments
is only slightly higher than
the increase in the
school-age population in Escuela de Gerencia Social (2007) "Proyección
de población por edad y sexo,"
http://www.gerenciasocial.org.ve/bases_datos/gerenciasocial/cuadros/poblacion/poblacionhtm/
Proyecciones.htm (Accessed July 26,
2007).
ARTICLE REFERENCES:
1.
Ortega, Daniel, Francisco Rodríguez and Edward Miguel (2006) “Freed
From Illiteracy? A
Closer Look at Venezuela’s Robinson Literacy Campaign.” Reproduced:
Wesleyan University.
2. Ravallion,
M. and S. Chen (1997) “What can new survey data tell us about recent
changes
in distribution and poverty?” The World Bank Economic review
5:57-82.
ARTICLE ENDNOTES:
1.
Ministerio del Poder Popular para las Finanzas (2007) “Resultado
Financiero Anual 1998-
2006” <http://www.mf.gov.ve/>
2.
Own calculations based on Banco Central de Venezuela (2007)
“Producto Interno Bruto por
Clase de Actividad Económica a precios de 1997,”http://www.bcv.org.ve/excel/5_2_4.xls?.
id=332 and
Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Planificación y Desarrollo,
República
Bolivariana de Venezuela (2007) Base de Datos Social. Caracas:
escuela de Gerencia Social.
<http://gerenciasocial.org.ve>.
3.
Pan American Health Organization (2007) “Regional Core Health Data
Initiative. Table
C.1.11.1,” <http://www.paho.org/English/SHA/coredata/tabulator/newsqlTabulador.asp>.
Accessed May 18, 2007.
4.
Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Planificación y Desarrollo,
República Bolivariana de
Venezuela (2007) Sistema Integrado de Indicadores Sociales de Venezuela.
<http://www.sisov.mpd.gob.ve/indicadores/NU0100200000000/>.
5. Ortega,
Daniel, Francisco Rodríguez and Edward Miguel (2006) “Freed From
Illiteracy? A
Closer Look at Venezuela’s Robinson Literacy Campaign.”
Reproduced: Wesleyan University.
6.
Banco
Central de Bolivia (2007) “Índice de Cantidad de las Exportaciones”
<http://www.bcb.gov.bo/sitio/estadisticast.php?n2=3&n3=8&n4=2>
