The Political Economy of the Public Budget in the Americas

This volume provides a multidisciplinary comparison of fiscal and tax policies in Latin America and the United States by political economy specialists from Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. The contributors identify the common budgetary problems of the nations of the Americas in terms of their status as "small fiscal states" --ones that have failed to generate adequate tax resources to fund the responsibilities of modern government. They also consider the differing effect of capital inflows on the autonomy of the public sector in the U.S. and Latin America. While the former has been able to operate large budgetary and trade deficits without adverse reaction from global financial markets, the latter has experienced the disciplining effect of these external forces to maintain low public deficits. The book offers a timely assessment of hemispheric fiscal developments on the eve of the greatest crisis for the world economy since the depression of the 1930s. Contributors includeWerner Baer (University of Illinois), Dennis S. Ippolito (Southern Methodist University), Colin M. Lewis (London School of Economics & Political Science and ISA), Roberto Machado (ECLAC), Andrew H. Mitchell (UCLA Center for Economic History), Iwan Morgan (ISA), Diego Sanchez-Ancochea (University of Oxford), Aaron Schneider (Tulane University), Carlos E. Schonerwald (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and ECLAC), and Matias Vernengo (University of Utah).