Venezuela Economic Structure Economic Policy And International Economic Relations

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 1,3, Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences (Wiesbaden Business School), language: English, abstract: This paper is about the South American country Venezuela. It starts by giving a basic overview, followed by the Economic Policy. Venezuela is still a developing country, so there is information about the development policy efforts to improve. Furthermore I wrote about the grade of governmental interference in economy and how the Venezuelan government carries out fiscal, monetary and foreign exchange policy. In the fourth chapter, you learn about the current macroeconomic situation concerning the GDP situation, unemployment and especially about the extremely high inflation. After that the economic structure of Venezuela is described by subdividing it to the agricultural, industrial and service sector and a conclusion about the most significant branch in Venezuela, the oil industry. In the sixth chapter the international economic relations of Venezuela are presented by showing the main trade partners and the products which exchanged. Moreover the attractiveness for FDI is examined and I give a description about the reasons for emigration and besides about Venezuela’s participation in customs unions and free trade areas. I conclude the paper by giving my personal opinion about Venezuela’s major problems and potentials.

This book presents an overview of the economic policies adopted by the Bolivarian governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela between 1998 and 2018, and the economic and social results of these policies. The recent history of Venezuela has attracted much attention due to Chávez’s and Maduro’s self-declared search for socialism since the beginning of the 21st century and the economic trajectory of the country in this period, which experienced significant economic growth during the international oil boom in the first decade of the century, followed by a huge economic crisis in the second decade. The volume adopts an economic history approach, taking into account both economic and social variables to analyze the Venezuelan overall socio-economic performance since 1998. Drawing on official documents and statistics, as well as on the available literature, it presents an empirical analysis of Venezuelan economic and social histories during the Bolivarian period, describing and analyzing the achievements and limits of the policies adopted between 1998 and 2018. Society and Economy in Venezuela: An Overview of the Bolivarian Period (1998-2018) will be a useful introduction to sociologists, political economists, political scientists, economic historians and other social scientists interested in understanding the multiple interrelations between economy and society in Bolivarian Venezuela. “This book offers a thoughtful, committed and illuminating analysis of the socialist experiment in Venezuela. Its strengths and weaknesses are examined in unprecedented detail, in order to identify the drivers and limitation of 'socialism in the 21st century'. An essential work for scholars, students and citizens concerned with Venezuela.” – Alfredo Saad-Filho, King's College London

"Paper Tigers and Minotaurs is an insider's account of national transition from a protected and state-controlled economy to one relying on free markets and open trade. Venezuela's experience with dismantling an entrenched economic structure and coping with the political consequences of a new system is a national story with international lessons. It is recounted from the author's perspective as a minister directly involved in the process, a scholar equipped to understand its broader implications, and a World Bank executive director we acquainted with the international record of economic reforms. With an eye for paradox and the unexpected, the author retraces his country's passage through the maze of surprises and dangers that beset managers of large-scale reform. Some of the dangers turn out to be roaring but harmless paper tigers; others, the unexpected and deadly minotaur capable of derailing the entire process of reform. Distinguishing one from the other, a none-too-simple task, emerges as an indispensable survival skill for reformers everywhere." "Venezuela, a country boasting one of the oldest and more affluent democracies in Latin America offers a case study exemplifying the complex links between market reforms and political instability. After the painful economic shock that accompanied the launching of the reform program in 1989, Venezuela enjoyed some of the highest economic rates in the world. Yet, this once politically stable, country turned suddenly and traumatically unstable. Two violent army revolts, widespread political turmoil and the ouster of President Carlos Andres Perez suddenly transformed a glowing example of successful economic liberalization into a gloomy reminder of the political costs of market reforms." "In rich and illuminating detail, the book analyzes this transformation and the consequences of the new policies that were meant to deal with the deepest economic crisis in Venezuela's history. The crisis was a classic and instructive example for governments everywhere that are undergoing the transition toward markets and away from state intervention. The author examines the initial impact of the reforms on the country's economy and the social situation, including the practical problems and the politics of implementing social "safety nets" to help the poor cope with the harsh burdens of economic adjustments. The book deals forthrightly with the central challenges to economic reform: the military and its reaction to reform and instability; the link between economic liberalization and corruption; the emergence of "media barons" as a political force brandishing unprecedented power; the inability of the government to communicate effectively with the people and build support for the reforms; the effects of the fierce rivalries that broke out among private economic groups; the demise of Carlos Andres Perez, once the most popular and powerful of the country's political leaders." "This engrossing reconstruction and interpretation of the Venezuelan experience is filled with lessons, insights, and deeper questions for all who enter the labyrinth determined to distinguish between the paper tigers and minotaurs that confront economic and political change."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Venezuela had one of the poorest economies in Latin America, but by 1970 it had become the richest country in the region and one of the twenty richest countries in the world, ahead of countries such as Greece, Israel, and Spain. Between 1978 and 2001, however, Venezuela’s economy went sharply in reverse, with non-oil GDP declining by almost 19 percent and oil GDP by an astonishing 65 percent. What accounts for this drastic turnabout? The editors of Venezuela Before Chávez, who each played a policymaking role in the country’s economy during the past two decades, have brought together a group of economists and political scientists to examine systematically the impact of a wide range of factors affecting the economy’s collapse, from the cost of labor regulation and the development of financial markets to the weakening of democratic governance and the politics of decisions about industrial policy. Aside from the editors, the contributors are Omar Bello, Adriana Bermúdez, Matías Braun, Javier Corrales, Jonathan Di John, Rafael Di Tella, Javier Donna, Samuel Freije, Dan Levy, Robert MacCulloch, Osmel Manzano, Francisco Monaldi, María Antonia Moreno, Daniel Ortega, Michael Penfold, José Pineda, Lant Pritchett, Cameron A. Shelton, and Dean Yang.

Starting from the key concept of geo-economics, this book investigates the new power politics and argues that the changing structural features of the contemporary international system are recasting the strategic imperatives of foreign policy practice. States increasingly practice power politics by economic means. Whether it is about Iran’s nuclear programme or Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Western states prefer economic sanctions to military force. Most rising powers have also become cunning agents of economic statecraft. China, for instance, is using finance, investment and trade as means to gain strategic influence and embed its global rise. Yet the way states use economic power to pursue strategic aims remains an understudied topic in International Political Economy and International Relations. The contributions to this volume assess geo-economics as a form of power politics. They show how power and security are no longer simply coupled to the physical control of territory by military means, but also to commanding and manipulating the economic binds that are decisive in today’s globalised and highly interconnected world. Indeed, as the volume shows, the ability to wield economic power forms an essential means in the foreign policies of major powers. In so doing, the book challenges simplistic accounts of a return to traditional, military-driven geopolitics, while not succumbing to any unfounded idealism based on the supposedly stabilising effects of interdependence on international relations. As such, it advances our understanding of geo-economics as a strategic practice and as an innovative and timely analytical approach. This book will be of much interest to students of security studies, international political economy, foreign policy and International Relations in general.