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  • Venezuela Before Chávez: Anatomy of an Economic Collapse

Oil, Macroeconomic Volatility and Crime in the Determination of Beliefs in Venezuela

By: Rafael Di Tella, Javier Donna and Robert MacCulloch
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Book Abstract: 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% and oil GDP by an astonishing 65%. 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 systematically examine 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.

Keywords

Macroeconomics; Volatility; Crime and Corruption; Values and Beliefs; Non-Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; Venezuela

Citation

Di Tella, Rafael, Javier Donna, and Robert MacCulloch. "Oil, Macroeconomic Volatility and Crime in the Determination of Beliefs in Venezuela." Chap. 14 in Venezuela Before Chávez: Anatomy of an Economic Collapse, edited by Ricardo Hausmann and Francisco Rodriguez. Penn State University Press, 2014.
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About The Author

Rafael M. Di Tella

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Liz Truss and the Thatcher Legacy: Markets and Fiscal Dominance in the United Kingdom By: Rafael Di Tella
  • Brazil's Messias? The Lava Jato Corruption Scandal, the Recession, and the Rise of Bolsonaro By: Rafael Di Tella and Jose Liberti
  • Liz Truss and the Thatcher Legacy: Markets and Fiscal Dominance in the United Kingdom By: Rafael Di Tella, Pablo Ottonello and David Allen
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