Donald G. Richards

Exports as a Determinant of Long-Run Growth in Paraguay, 1966-96

During the 1970s and early 1980s Paraguay experienced relatively high rates of economic growth as well as a boom in primary goods production destined for export. The question which this research addresses concerns the relationship between these events and the applicability of the so-called export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis. The hypothesis is investigated via the use of modern time series methods including Granger causality tests, error correction modeling, and vector autoregression. The basic conclusion reached is that the ELG does not have much relevance to the Paraguayan case.

Exchange market pressure in Paraguay, 1963–88: monetary disequilibrium versus global and regional dependency

The relevance of the monetary approach to exchange market pressure for Paraguays small, open economy is compared to that of two competing Keynesian/structural approaches, which emphasize respectively, global and regional dependency effects. Estimation results for the three models – including formal comparisons using nonnested hypothesis tests and forecast accuracy staistics – suggest that the explanatory power of the monetary model is dominated by that of the regional dependency model, with the global dependency model having an intermediate degree of applicability. This result is intuitive given the extreme dependency of the Paraguayan economy on Argentina and Brazil.

Contradictions of the ‘New Green Revolution’: A View from South America's Southern Cone

This paper is an examination of the social, economic, and environmental problems created by the search for and application of biotechnological solutions to global hunger that are also protected by a system of globally harmonized intellectual property rights. These contradictions are illustrated by the example of South Americas Southern Cone region (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) where the ‘New Green Revolution’ has since 1996 been vigorously introduced, led by genetically modified (GM) soybeans. It is argued that the ‘New Green Revolution’ is not a solution either to the problem of agro-ecological sustainability or to that of hunger and malnutrition. Este artículo examina los problemas sociales, económicos y del medio ambiente, creados en busca de soluciones biotecnológicas para el hambre global, soluciones que también son protegidas por el sistema global armónico de derechos de propiedad intelectual. Estas contradicciones quedan claramente ilustradas utilizando el ejemplo de la región del Cono Sur en Suramérica (Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay) donde la “Nueva Revolución Verde” ha sido fuertemente introducida desde 1996, liderada por la utilización de soya genéticamente modificada (GM). Se argumenta que la “La nueva revolución verde” no es la solución para el problema de la sustentabilidad agro-ecológica ni para el hambre y la desnutrición.

Transition and reform in a predatory state: the case of Paraguay

This paper examines the problems of public and institutional reforms within the context of a so‐called predatory state. The predatory state is one that acts in the interest of an elite rather than pursue a coherent strategy for economic development. The argument is that, even after the process of political transition is begun, important reforms are blocked by a lingering institutional overhang that continues to serve the predatory elite. We examine the experience of Paraguay that disposed of its dictator in 1989 and began a democratic transition. The failure to implement needed reforms is shown to have blocked a revival of economic growth and development.

Regional Integration and Intra-industry Trade in Latin America, 1980–90

The decade of the 1980s saw profound changes in the political economy of Latin America. The stabilisation and debt crises forced many countries in the region to re-examine their economic policies individually as well as collectively. The consequence was both a movement in the direction of neoliberal reform that included an emphasis on export promotion as well as a revival of interest in regional integration. The specific purpose of the present paper is to examine the consequences of these changes for the structure of intra-regional trade among and between Latin American countries. More specifically, we are interested in assessing the regions performance in terms of intra-regional, intra-industry trade over the period 1980-90.

Test evidence for the OECD countries, 1965‐85

Examines empirically the proposition that a large public enterprise sector for an economy acts as an obstacle to a healthy rate of economic growth. The empirical analysis concentrates on the experience of the OECD countries for the years 1965‐85. Single and multiple equation‐models of economic growth are specified with the size of the public enterprise (PE) sector included as an explanatory variable. In general, the evidence fails to support the hypothesis of a negative relationship between PE and economic growth.

Inflation, unemployment and distributional conflict in Argentina, 1984–90

The cycle of various economic stabilisation efforts in Argentina during the 1980s has often been characterised as reflecting either policy confusion on the part of officials or their unwillingness to depart from an obsolete model of economic development. Hence, according to some, the alternation between orthodox and heterodox policy approaches has revealed an absence of either economic policy wisdom or political conviction. Less attention has been paid to the underlying real class-based conflict for income that has manifested itself in terms of high rates of inflation and, at times, hyperinflation. Interpreting the issue from this perspective allows us to appreciate the essential continuity of the process of neo-liberal reform of the Argentine political economy that commenced with the post-Peronist military coup in 1976 and has more recently culminated with the rise of the nominally Peronist regime of Carlos Menem.

Economics and “Nature's Standard”: Wes Jackson and The Land Institute

This essay introduces or re-acquaints readers with the work of Wes Jackson and The Land Institute in Salinas, Kansas. At the center of this work is an effort to develop perennial poly-culture as an alternative to industrial agriculture. The latter dominant model of food and fiber production is shown to involve severe problems in terms of short-run ecological costs and long-run sustainability. It is also argued that the perennial poly-culture model has much to recommend it to radical economists as a corrective to capitalist inefficiency. Finally, notwithstanding Jacksons facile criticism of Marx, it is argued that Marxs own writing actually anticipates Jacksons agro-ecological critique of capitalism.

Trade-related intellectual property rights

Maskus, K. (2000) Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics. Matthews, D. (2002) Globalising Intellectual Property Rights: The TRIPS Agreement, London: Routledge. May, C. (2000) A Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights. The New Enclosures?, London: Routledge/RIPE studies in global political economy. Sell, S.K. (1998) Power and Ideas: North-South Politics of Intellectual Property and An titrust, Albany: State University of New York Press.

The poverty of democracy in Latin America

This paper reviews recent Latin American presidential elections as a means of examining the quality of democracy in the region. Its principal hypothesis is that, notwithstanding the claims of mainstream analysis, the (re)introduction of formal democratic procedure has not represented a meaningful advance in authentic, broad-based political and economic enfranchisement of the regions working class and peasant majorities. In many cases the so-called democratic transition has merely disguised the adaption of previously authoritarian mechanisms of social control.