Verónica Montecinos

The Ubiquitous Rise of Economists

Professional economists have for a long time had significant roles as advisers to policy makers. In recent years they have gone well beyond this in many countries and have come to occupy the highest positions in government. While their technical knowledge is an important reason for their influx into governments, their acquisition of the highest positions of authority, we contend, is to an important degree a ceremonial display. The symbolic aspect of the appointment of high-level economist-politicians is as significant as any specific stock of knowledge they bring to political life and is a part of an emerging transnational political culture in which economists occupy a sacerdotal role.

Economists in the Americas

Probably no region’s economists have had greater public visibility or greater impact on regional and national public policy than Latin America’s and no region has been more directly affected by the spread of US economics. Economists in the Americas joins a small but important comparative literature on economics as a profession and is the first comparative treatment of professional economists in the United States and Latin America.

Ceremonial regionalism, institutions and integration in the Americas

Latin Americas recent integrationist proposals have been presented as part of a new commitment to increasing living standards and international competitiveness. However, the frustrating results of integration in the past three decades should caution us against placing excessive emphasis on the technical aspects of trade. The author argues that important lessons can be learned from previous attempts to promote integration in this region while neglecting the political dimensions of integration. Inadequate organizational forms, weak institutional arrangements ruled by technocratic elites, may be more helpful as ceremonial devices in the legitimation of those elites than in advancing the substance of the integration project.

Economic policy elites and democratization

Is the authoritarian potential of policy elites a mortal threat to the consolidation of democracy in Latin America? This article suggests that in the context of democratic transitions, significant variations may exist in the performance of technocratic roles. In most countries in the region, elected governments faced the crisis of the 1980s by retaining markedly technocratic and exclusionary styles of policy-making. In Chile, a highly technocratic form of authoritarianism was succeeded by a novel pattern of pragmatic cooperation between technical and political elites. Democratic institutions were reestablished while a strong economic team enforced coherence and continuity in economic policy. Historical and institutional factors are used to show that Chile may now be nearer the democratic pole than other “hybrid” democratic-authoritarian regimes in the region.

Economists in the Americas: convergence, divergence and connection

Probably no region’s economists have had greater public visibility or greater impact on regional and national public policy than Latin America’s and no region has been more directly affected by the spread of US economics. Economists in the Americas joins a small but important comparative literature on economics as a profession and is the first comparative treatment of professional economists in the United States and Latin America.

Feminists and Technocrats in the Democratization of Latin America: A Prolegomenon

Womens movements made important contributions to ending the period of authoritarian rule in Latin America, but their participation in the reconstruction of democratic politics has been more limited than expected. This paper argues that the enormous influence exerted by technocratic elites in the democratization process in Latin America has represented an obstacle to the improvement of womens status in the region. Gender-biased assumptions and practices have been only partially addressed, in part because the policy-making process is under the control of economists, a professional group with a particularly unfriendly stand towards gendered analysis. It is suggested that reforms within economics may help in the task of making democracy more responsive to the demands of women.

Economic Reforms, Social Policy, and the Family Economy in Chile

Chiles long tradition of welfare programs included “generous” benefits for many working women. The social security system, however, perpetuated significant forms of gender and class inequality. In the 1970s and 1980s, poverty was greatly increased by sweeping market reforms. The military government responded to the high social costs with a minimal safety net which targeted expectant mothers, small children and the extremely poor, but was inadequate for most of the population. After the return of democracy, income distribution has improved in the 1990s. Yet, much needs to be done to promote family well-being through effective and participatory social policies.

Los economistas y las élites políticas en América Latina

En este articulo se plantea que el estudio de la profesionalizacion de la economia contribuye a entender las reorientaciones del cambio economico y social ocurridas recientemente en America Latina, ayudando a explicar diferencias nacionales en cuanto al momento, la rapidez y profundidad de las reformas de mercado. En este sentido, se establecen cuatro etapas en la evolucion de la profesion economica en la region. En la primera fase, que la autora llama de internacionalizacion como estrategia de profesionalizacion, el empleo de asesores extranjeros era comun ya que solo existia un grupo reducido de economistas latinoamericanos. En la segunda, de latinoamericanizacion de la economia, surge una escuela de pensamiento economico estructuralista, cuyo referente principal fue la creacion de CEPAL. Un tercer momento, denominado norteamericanizacion de la economia, se inicia con la reaccion de economistas mas tradicionales que terminan dominando el campo profesional. Finalmente, en el cuarto periodo, se logra un amplio consenso respecto a la necesidad de hacer cambios en la economia politica de la region. La profesion economica se legitima y los economistas adquieren un control casi monopolico tanto sobre las decisiones economicas como en otros ambitos de las politicas publicas.

Michelle Bachelet: Engendering Chile’s Democratization

Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s first woman president, concluded her first term in office (2006–2010) with an 84 percent approval rating but was constitutionally prevented from seeking immediate reelection. After serving as the first Executive Director of UN Women in New York and 40 years after the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, Bachelet regained the presidency in 2013 facing another woman, Evelyn Matthei, who represented the political right. The chapter analyzes the significance of Bachelet’s political leadership and gender-related policies calling attention to Chile’s historical trajectory and post-transition record, widely considered a model of economic and democratic stability.

Epilogue: a glance beyond the neoliberal moment

Probably no region’s economists have had greater public visibility or greater impact on regional and national public policy than Latin America’s and no region has been more directly affected by the spread of US economics. Economists in the Americas joins a small but important comparative literature on economics as a profession and is the first comparative treatment of professional economists in the United States and Latin America.