Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:59:33.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Paths to Financial Policy Diffusion: Statist Legacies in Latin America's Globalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2012

Sarah M. Brooks
Affiliation:
Ohio State University, Columbus. E-mail: [email protected]
Marcus J. Kurtz
Affiliation:
Ohio State University, Columbus. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The dominant approaches to the study of capital account liberalization have highlighted institutional barriers to reform and have also demonstrated an important role for interdependence, or the diffusion of a policy innovation from one country to another, as a causal force. Our approach contrasts with the institutional approach and seeks to clarify the political mechanisms of international policy diffusion. Specifically, we develop and test hypotheses that posit that structural economic legacies of the pre–reform era both condition the way in which international diffusion operates, and create the societal and economic interests that help produce varying capital account policy outcomes in the domestic political sphere. Analysis of capital account liberalization strategies in post–debt-crisis Latin America (1983–2007) reveals that capital account opening and the channels through which this innovation diffuses are conditioned by the legacy of a country's pre–debt crisis economic development model. Specifically, the degree to which advanced import-substituting industrialization was pursued prior to the reform era affects capital account policy by shaping both the relevant international peer groups through which policy models diffuse, and the sorts of domestic interests that are likely to influence the liberalization process. International diffusion also varies in its impact depending on domestic political and economic conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andrews, David M. 1994. Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations. International Studies Quarterly 38 (2):193218.Google Scholar
Armijo, Leslie Elliott. 2001. Skewed Incentives to Liberalize International Trade, Production, and Finance. Unpublished manuscript, Reed College, Portland, Ore.Google Scholar
Armijo, Leslie Elliott, and Faucher, Philippe. 2002. “We Have a Consensus”: Explaining Political Support for Market Reforms in Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society 44 (2):140.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Nancy Neiman. 2001. States, Banks, and Markets: Mexico's Path to Financial Liberalization in Comparative Perspective. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Baer, Werner. 1972. Import Substitution and Industrialization in Latin America: Experiences and Interpretations. Latin American Research Review 7 (1):95122.Google Scholar
Baker, Andy. 2003. Why Is Trade Reform So Popular in Latin America? A Consumption-Based Theory of Trade Policy Preferences. World Politics 55 (3):423–55.Google Scholar
Bartolini, Leonardo, and Drazen, Allan. 1997. Capital-Account Liberalization as a Signal. American Economic Review 87 (1):138–54.Google Scholar
Beck, Nathaniel, Gleditsch, Kristian S., and Beardsley, Kyle. 2006. Space Is More than Geography: Using Spatial Econometrics in the Study of Political Economy. International Studies Quarterly 50 (1):2744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Thorsten, Clarke, George, Groff, Alberto, Keefer, Philip, and Walsh, Patrick. 2001. New Tools in Comparative Political Economy: The Database of Political Institutions. World Bank Economic Review 15 (1):165–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Douglas, and Sharpe, Kenneth E.. 1979. Transnational Corporations and the Political Economy of Export Promotion: The Case of the Mexican Automobile Industry. International Organization 33 (2):177201.Google Scholar
Braun, Dietmar, and Gilardi, Fabrizio. 2006. Taking “Galton's Problem” Seriously: Towards a Theory of Policy Diffusion. Journal of Theoretical Politics 18 (3):298322.Google Scholar
Brooks, Sarah M. 2004. Explaining Capital Account Liberalization in Latin America: A Transitional Cost Approach. World Politics 56 (3):389430.Google Scholar
Brooks, Sarah M. 2007. When Does Diffusion Matter? Explaining the Spread of Structural Pension Reforms Across Nations. Journal of Politics 69 (3):701–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Sarah M., and Kurtz, Marcus J.. 2007. Capital, Trade, and the Political Economies of Reform. American Journal of Political Science 51 (4):703–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brune, Nancy, Garrett, Geoffrey, Guisinger, Alexandra, and Sorens, Jason. 2001. The Political Economy of Capital Account Liberalization. Paper presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Brune, Nancy, and Guisinger, Alexandra. 2003. The Diffusion of Capital Account Liberalization in Developing Countries. Paper presented at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Buttari, Juan J. 1992. Economic Policy Reform in Four Central American Countries: Patterns and Lessons Learned. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 34 (1):179214.Google Scholar
Caballero, Ricardo J., and Corbo, Vittorio. 1989. The Effect of Real Exchange Rate Uncertainty on Exports: Empirical Evidence. World Bank Economic Review 3 (2):263–78.Google Scholar
Calvo, Guillermo A., Leiderman, Leonardo, and Reinhart, Carmen M.. 1993. Capital Inflows and Real Exchange Rate Appreciation in Latin America: The Role of External Factors. Staff Papers—International Monetary Fund 40 (1):108–51.Google Scholar
Calvo, Guillermo A., Leiderman, Leonardo, and Reinhart, Carmen M.. 1996. Inflows of Capital to Developing Countries in the 1990s. Journal of Economic Perspectives 10 (2):123–39.Google Scholar
Cardoso, Eliana, and Goldfajn, Ilan. 1998. Capital Flows to Brazil: The Endogeneity of Capital Controls. Staff Papers—International Monetary Fund 45 (1):161202.Google Scholar
Cavarozzi, Marcelo. 1992. Beyond Transitions to Democracy in Latin America. Journal of Latin American Studies 24 (3):665–84.Google Scholar
Chinn, Menzie D., and Ito, Hiro. 2008. A New Measure of Financial Openness. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 10 (3):309–22.Google Scholar
Chwieroth, Jeffrey M. 2007a. Neoliberal Economists and Capital Account Liberalization in Emerging Markets. International Organization 61 (2):443–63.Google Scholar
Chwieroth, Jeffrey M. 2007b. Testing and Measuring the Role of Ideas: The Case of Neoliberalism in the International Monetary Fund. International Studies Quarterly 51 (1):530.Google Scholar
De la Torre, Augusto, and Schmukler, Sergio L.. 2007. Emerging Capital Markets and Globalization: The Latin American Experience. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli, and Detragiache, Enrica. 1998. The Determinants of Banking Crises in Developing and Developed Countries. Staff Papers—International Monetary Fund 45 (1):81109.Google Scholar
Diaz-Alejandro, Carlos. 1985. Good-Bye Financial Repression, Hello Financial Crash. Journal of Development Economics 19 (1):124.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul J., and Powell, Walter W.. 1983. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48 (2):147–60.Google Scholar
Dreher, Axel. 2006. IMF and Economic Growth: The Effects of Programs, Loans, and Compliance with Conditionality. World Development 34 (5):769–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Sebastian. 1998. Openness, Productivity and Growth: What Do We Really Know? The Economic Journal 108 (447):383–98.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry. 2001. Capital Account Liberalization: What Do Cross-Country Studies Tell Us? World Bank Economic Review 15 (3):341–65.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry, and Leblang, David. 2003. Capital Account Liberalization and Growth: Was Mr. Mahatir Right? International Journal of Finance and Economics 8 (3):205–24.Google Scholar
Elkins, Zachary, and Simmons, Beth. 2005. On Waves, Clusters, and Diffusion: A Conceptual Framework. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598 (1):3351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández Jilberto, Alex E., and Hogenboom, Barbara. 2007. Latin American Conglomerates in the Neoliberal Era: The Politics of Economic Concentration in Chile and Mexico. In Big Business and Economic Development: Conglomerates and Economic Groups in Developing Countries and Transition Economies Under Globalisation, edited by Jilberto, Alex E. Fernández and Hogenboom, Barbara, 135–66. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fernández Jilberto, Alex E., and Mommen, André. 1996. Setting the Neoliberal Development Agenda: Structural Adjustment and Export-Led Industrialization. In Liberalization in the Developing World, edited by Jilberto, Alex E. Fernández and Mommen, André, 127. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fishlow, Albert. 1990. The Latin American State. Journal of Economic Perspectives 4 (3):6174.Google Scholar
Franzese, Robert J., and Hays, Jude C.. 2007. Spatial Econometric Models of Cross-Sectional Interdependence in Political Science Panel and Time-Series Cross-Section Data. Political Analysis 15 (2):140–64.Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry A. 1987. Banking on the World: The Politics of American International Finance. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry A. 1988. Capital Politics: Creditors and the International Political Economy. Journal of Public Policy 8 (3-4):265–86.Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry A. 1991a. Debt, Development, and Democracy: Modern Political Economy and Latin America, 1965–1985. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry A. 1991b. Invested Interests: The Politics of National Economic Policies in a World of Global Finance. International Organization 45 (4):425–51.Google Scholar
Giovannini, Alberto, and de Melo, Martha. 1993. Government Revenue from Financial Repression. American Economic Review 83 (4):953–63.Google Scholar
Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede, and Ward, Michael D.. 2006. Diffusion and the International Context of Democratization. International Organization 60 (4):911–33.Google Scholar
Goodman, John B., and Pauly, Louis W.. 1993. The Obsolescence of Capital Controls? Economic Management in an Age of Global Markets. World Politics 46 (1):5082.Google Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2009. Determining Trade Policy: Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable? International Organization 63 (3):533–57.Google Scholar
Haber, Stephen. 2003. Banks, Financial Markets, and Industrial Development: Lessons from the Economic Histories of Brazil and Mexico. In Latin American Macroeconomic Reform. The Second Stage, edited by González, José Antonio, Corbo, Vittorio, Krueger, Anne O., and Tornell, Aaron, 257–92. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan. 1990. Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Maxfield, Sylvia. 1996. The Political Economy of Financial Liberalization in the Developing World. In Internationalization and Domestic Politics, edited by Keohane, Robert O. and Milner, Helen V., 209–42. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helleiner, Eric. 1994. States and the Reemergence of Global Finance: From Bretton Woods to the 1990s. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hellman, Joel S. 1998. Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist Transitions. World Politics 50 (2):203–34.Google Scholar
Henisz, Witold J., Zelner, Bennet A., and Guillén, Mauro F.. 2004. International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977–1999. Unpublished manuscript, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1968. The Political Economy of Import-Substituting Industrialization in Latin America. Quarterly Journal of Economics 82 (1):132.Google Scholar
Jahn, Detlef. 2006. Globalization as “Galton's Problem”: The Missing Link in the Analysis of Diffusion Patterns in Welfare State Development. International Organization 60 (2):401–31.Google Scholar
Kaminsky, Graciela L., and Schmukler, Sergio L.. 2003. Short-Run Pain, Long-Run Gain: The Effects of Financial Liberalization. Working Paper 9787. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Kastner, Scott L., and Rector, Chad. 2003. International Regimes, Domestic Veto-Players, and Capital Controls Policy Stability. International Studies Quarterly 47 (1):122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kastner, Scott L., and Rector, Chad. 2005. Partisanship and the Path to Financial Openness. Comparative Political Studies 38 (5):484506.Google Scholar
Keefer, Philip. 2005. DPI2004 Database of Political Institutions: Changes and Variable Definitions. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. Available at ⟨http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRES/Resources/DPI2004_variable-definitions.pdf⟩. Accessed 8 July 2011.Google Scholar
Klein, Michael W., and Olivei, Giovanni P.. 2008. Capital Account Liberalization, Financial Depth, and Economic Growth. Journal of International Money and Finance 27 (6):861–75.Google Scholar
Kopstein, Jeffrey, and Reilly, David. 2000. Geographic Diffusion and the Transformation of the Postcommunist World. World Politics 53 (1):137.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Marcus J., and Schrank, Andrew. 2005. Credit Where Credit Is Due: Open Economy Industrial Policy and Export Diversification in Latin America and the Caribbean. Politics and Society 33 (4):671702.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Marcus J., and Brooks, Sarah M.. 2008. Embedding Neoliberal Reform in Latin America. World Politics 60 (2):231–80.Google Scholar
Labán, Raúl, and Larraín, Felipe. 2000. Can a Liberalization of Capital Outflows Increase Net Capital Inflows? In Capital Flows, Capital Controls, and Currency Crises: Latin America in the 1990s, edited by Larraín, Felipe, 1937. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Larraín, Felipe. 2000. Capital Flows, Capital Controls, and Currency Crises in Latin America. In Capital Flows, Capital Controls, and Currency Crises: Latin America in the 1990s, edited by Larraín, Felipe, 118. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Larraín, Felipe, and Vergara, Rodrigo. 1993. Investment and Macroeconomic Adjustment: The Case of East Asia. In Striving for Growth after Adjustment: The Role of Capital Formation, edited by Servén, Luis and Solimano, Andrés, 229–74. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Leblang, David A. 1997. Domestic and Systemic Determinants of Capital Controls in the Developed and Developing World. International Studies Quarterly 41 (3):435–54.Google Scholar
Lee, Chang Kil, and Strang, David. 2006. The International Diffusion of Public-Sector Downsizing: Network Emulation and Theory-Driven Learning. International Organization 60 (4):883909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, David. 2005. The Global Diffusion of Regulatory Capitalism. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598 (1):1232.Google Scholar
Li, Quan, and Smith, Dale L.. 2002. The Dilemma of Financial Liberalization: State Autonomy and Societal Demands. Journal of Politics 64 (3):764–90.Google Scholar
Lukauskas, Arvid, and Minushkin, Susan. 2000. Explaining Styles of Financial Market Opening in Chile, Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey. International Studies Quarterly 44 (4):695723.Google Scholar
Lusztig, Michael. 2004. The Limits of Protectionism: Building Coalitions for Free Trade. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Magud, Nicolas, and Reinhart, Carmen M.. 2006. Capital Controls: An Evaluation. Working Paper 11973. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Maxfield, Sylvia. 1998. Understanding the Political Implications of Financial Internationalization in Emerging Market Countries. World Development 26 (7):1201–19.Google Scholar
McKinnon, Ronald. 1993. The Order of Economic Liberalization: Financial Control in the Transition to a Market Economy. 2d ed.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meseguer, Covadonga. 2004. What Role for Learning? The Diffusion of Privatisation in OECD and Latin American Countries. Journal of Public Policy 24 (3):299325.Google Scholar
Meseguer, Covadonga. 2005. Policy Learning, Policy Diffusion, and the Making of a New Order. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598 (1):6782.Google Scholar
Meseguer, Covadonga. 2006. Learning and Economic Policy Choices. European Journal of Political Economy 22 (1):156–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mukherjee, Bumba, and Singer, David A.. 2010. International Institutions and Domestic Compensation: The IMF and the Politics of Capital Account Liberalization. American Journal of Political Science 54 (1):4560.Google Scholar
Perry, Guillermo. 2007. Foreword. In Emerging Capital Markets and Globalization: The Latin American Experience, by de la Torre, Augusto and Schmukler, Sergio L., xixiv. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Prebisch, Raúl. 1959. Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries. American Economic Review 49 (2):251–73.Google Scholar
Quinn, Dennis P. 1997. The Correlates of Change in International Financial Regulation. American Political Science Review 91 (3):531–51.Google Scholar
Quinn, Dennis P., and Inclán, Carla. 1997. The Origins of Financial Openness: A Study of Current and Capital Account Liberalization. American Journal of Political Science 41 (3):771813.Google Scholar
Quinn, Dennis P., Schindler, Martin, and Toyoda, A. Maria. 2011. Measuring Capital and Financial Current Account Openness. IMF Economic Review 59 (3):488522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remmer, Karen L. 1998. The Politics of Neoliberal Economic Reform in South America, 1980–1994. Studies in Comparative International Development 33 (2):329.Google Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 1998. Who Needs Capital-Account Convertibility? In Should the IMF Pursue Capital-Account Convertability? (Essays in International Finance 207), 5566. Princeton, N.J.: Department of Economics, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 1999. Where Did All the Growth Go? External Shocks, Social Conflict, and Growth Collapses. Journal of Economic Growth 4 (4):385412.Google Scholar
Rodrik, Dani, and Velasco, Andrés. 1999. Short-Term Capital Flows. Working Paper 7364. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, Everett M. 1995. Diffusion of Innovations. 4th ed.New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Sachs, Jeffrey D., Warner, Andrew, Åslund, Anders, and Fischer, Stanley. 1995. Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1995 (1):1118.Google Scholar
Schamis, Hector E. 1999. Distributional Coalitions and the Politics of Economic Reform in Latin America. World Politics 51 (2):236–68.Google Scholar
Shadlen, Kenneth C. 2002. Orphaned by Democracy: Small Industry in Contemporary Mexico. Comparative Politics 35 (1):4362.Google Scholar
Silva, Eduardo. 1996. The State and Capital in Chile: Business Elites, Technocrats, and Market Economics. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., Dobbin, Frank, and Garrett, Geoffrey. 2006. Introduction: The International Diffusion of Liberalism. International Organization 60 (4):781810.Google Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., and Elkins, Zachary. 2004. The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy. American Political Science Review 98 (1):171–89.Google Scholar
Sobel, Andrew C. 1994. Domestic Choices, International Markets: Dismantling National Barriers and Liberalizing Securities Markets. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Stallings, Barbara, and Studart, Rogério. 2006. Finance for Development: Latin America in Comparative Perspective. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Sukiassyan, Grigor, and Nugent, Jeffrey B.. 2008. Associations Versus Registration as Alternative Strategies of Small Firms. Small Business Economics 31 (2):147–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swank, Duane. 2006. Tax Policy in an Era of Internationalization: Explaining the Spread of Neoliberalism. International Organization 60 (4):847–82.Google Scholar
Teichman, Judith A. 2001. The Politics of Freeing Markets in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Thacker, Strom C. 1999. NAFTA Coalitions and the Political Viability of Neoliberalism in Mexico. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 41 (2):5789.Google Scholar
Verdier, Daniel. 2002. Moving Money: Banking and Finance in the Industrialized World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Volden, Craig. 2006. States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children's Health Insurance Program. American Journal of Political Science 50 (2):294312.Google Scholar
Vreeland, James. 2003. Why Do Governments and the IMF Enter into Agreements? Statistically Selected Cases. International Political Science Review 24 (3):321–43.Google Scholar
Way, Christopher R. 2005. Political Insecurity and the Diffusion of Financial Market Regulation. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598 (1):125–44.Google Scholar
Weaver, R. Kent. 1986. The Politics of Blame Avoidance. Journal of Public Policy 6 (4):371–98.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt G. 2005a. Theories of Policy Diffusion: Lessons from Latin American Pension Reform. World Politics 57 (2):262–95.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt G. 2005b. The Diffusion of Innovations: How Cognitive Heuristics Shaped Bolivia's Pension Reform. Comparative Politics 38 (1):2142.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt G. 2006. Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion: Social Sector Reform in Latin America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zysman, John. 1983. Governments, Markets, and Growth: Financial Systems and the Politics of Industrial Change. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Brooks supplementary material

Appendix.doc

Download Brooks supplementary material(File)
File 65 KB