THE DANGER OF POPULISM MACROECONOMIC POPULISM IN LATIN AMERICA. IS COLOMBIA THE EXCEPTION?

THE DANGER OF POPULISM MACROECONOMIC POPULISM IN LATIN AMERICA. IS COLOMBIA THE EXCEPTION?

In recent decades, populism has regained prominence in Latin America. It is expressed in forms of government from left or right as it happens in Venezuela with Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe in Colombia, as well as in mobilization of some sectors of the population. This ambiguous concept takes on different meanings. From the economic point of view, macroeconomic populism emphasizes growth through redistributive policies in the short term to increase consumption, neglecting macroeconomic balance, especially with regard to inflation and fiscal deficit.
This paper argues that macroeconomic populism is not new and has been applied in Latin America repeatedly. With some differences and at different times of economic history, the governments of Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, have resorted to the use of fiscal, monetary and credit expansive policies and overvaluation of the currency to accelerate growth and redistribute income. When applied there are concerns about fiscal and exchange
restrictions.

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