The Political Economy Of Reform

In this book, Federico Sturzenegger and Mariano Tommasi propose formal models to answer some of the questions raised by the recent reform experience of many Latin American and eastern European countries.

Policymakers around the world have increasingly agreed that macroeconomic discipline, microeconomic liberalization, and outward orientation are prerequisites for economic success. But what are the political conditions that make economic transformation possible? At a conference held at the Institute for International Economics, leaders of economic reform recounted their efforts to bring about change and discussed the impact of the political climate on the success of their efforts. In this book, these leaders explore the political conditions conducive to the success of policy reforms. Did economic crisis strengthen the hands of the reformers? Was the rapidity with which reforms were instituted crucial? Did the reformers have a "honeymoon" period in which to transform the economy? The authors answer these and other questions, as well as providing first-hand accounts of the politically charged atmosphere surrounding reform efforts in their countries.

By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.

Explores the politics and economics of the Abe government and evaluates major policies, such as Abenomics policy reforms.

Drawing on Khalid Ikram's extensive knowledge of economic policymaking at the highest levels, The Political Economy of Reforms in Egypt lays out the enduring features of the Egyptian economy and its performance since 1952 before presenting an account of policy-making, growth and structural change under the country's successive presidents to the present day.

Economists have moved in recent years beyond analyzing the manner in which the macroeconomies of different countries function and prescribing appropriate policies for dealing with domestic and external imbalances. Increasingly, they have sought to understand the complex interaction between political and economic phenomena. This book considers issues of economic reform in a broad range of settings: * developed countries * transition countries * developing countries Using country specific cases such as Uzbekistan, Burma and Haiti, it focuses on those territories which have encountered problems reforming, allowing the reader to gain an accurate understanding of the factors that inhibit the success of economic reform, the different context in which economic reform is attempted, and the different challenges that individual countries face. An international team of contributors including Bo Södersten, Deepak Lal and Ron Findlay have been brought together to analyze these topical issues, making this an informative and thought-provoking book, of interest to those involved in the field of development studies.

When he fled Austria in 1934, Ludwig von Mises left behind a wealth of writings that, he supposed, were lost forever. Seized by the Nazi Gestapo, the papers were subsequently captured by the Soviet KGB and were archived in Moscow. Their discovery in 1996, by Professors Richard and Anna Ebeling of Hillsdale College, received widespread attention. In cooperation with Hillsdale College, Liberty Fund will make available these long-lost writings, many of which have not previously appeared in English, as part of a three-volume edition of selected writings by one of the unsurpassed economists of the twentieth century. In the first of the volumes to be published are contained separate previously unpublished works that Mises wrote from 1940 through 1944, when much of the world was at war. The papers include: Guiding Principles for the Reconstruction of Austria (1940); An Eastern Democratic Union: A Proposal for the Establishment of a Durable Peace in Eastern Europe (1943); Aspects of American Foreign Trade Policy (1943); Mexico's Economic Problems (1943); The Main Issues in Present-Day Monetary Controversies (1944), and; A Non-Inflationary Proposal for Post-War Monetary Reconstruction (1944).

This book proposes a simple framework for understanding the political economy of subsidy reform and applies it to four in-depth country studies covering more than 30 distinct episodes of reform. Five key lessons emerge. First, energy subsidies often follow a life cycle, beginning as a way to stabilize prices and reduce exposure to price volatility for low-income consumers. However, as they grow in size and political power, they become entrenched. Second, subsidy reform strategies vary because the underlying political economy problems vary. When benefits are concentrated, satisfying (or isolating) interest groups with alternative policies is an important condition for effective reform. When benefits are diffuse, it can be much harder to identify and manage the political coalition needed for reform. Third, governments vary in their administrative and political capacities to implement difficult energy subsidy reforms. Fourth, improvements in social protection systems are often critical to the success of reforms because they make it possible to target assistance to those most in need. Finally, the most interesting cases involve governments that take a strategic approach to the challenges of political economy. In these settings, fixing energy subsidies is central to the governments’ missions of retaining political power and reorganizing how the government delivers benefits to the population. These cases are examples of “reform engineering,†? where governments actively seek to create the capacity to implement alternative policies, depoliticize tariffs, and build credibility around alternative policies. The most successful reforms involve active efforts by policy leaders to identify the political forces supporting energy subsidies and redirect or inoculate them.