ИПИ Библиотека

Policy making in developing countries is a constant tug-of-war between economic good sense and political expediency. Politics and Policy Making in Developing Countries takes an in-depth look at how policy makers – who operate in a world of entrenched interest groups, unwieldy bureaucracies, and vocal urban populations – balance political realities against should economic policy. Using the framework of the new political economy, the authors examine the policies that result from political and economic trade-offs and offer important insights for achieving real economic reform.

"In the 1936-1950 period economic policy making in most Latin American countries faced a turning point. Another such turning point may have begun in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is more than a change in the balance of political forces and the power of pressure groups that explain such changes. In both cases economic circumstances and needs changed, and leadership groups have been pressed to provide answers to the emerging social and economic problems. The search for solutions has often led to policies that served a perceived national objective as well as the self-interests of the leadership groups. Quite often, though, the long-turn consequences of a given policy have been unknown, since many of the potential costs of the new policy were hidden even to the economists of the time."

Gerald Meier

Gerald M. Meier, Matsushita Professor of International Economics and Policy Analysis, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.