The global financial crisis (GFC) has had a negative effect on the Bolivian economy. The outbreak of the GFC has caused a drop in export commodity prices such as mining and hydrocarbons, and a reduction in remittances. Bolivia however, was in a relatively good position to deal with the negative...

The global financial crisis (GFC) has had a negative effect on the Bolivian economy. The outbreak of the GFC has caused a drop in export commodity prices such as mining and hydrocarbons, and a reduction in remittances. Bolivia however, was in a relatively good position to deal with the negative...

This paper uses firm level surveys from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to estimate the determinants of labor productivity. This study started out with the hypothesis that the adverse external business conditions that firms in poor Latin American countries face, may be an important...

After several decades of “state-capitalism” characterized by import substitution policies, Bolivia implemented in 1985 a New Economic Policy (NEP) following neo-liberal ideas of free trade, privatization, and liberalization of capital flows. It was hoped that the opening up of the economy...

This paper seeks to test to which extent geographical constraints can be blamed for Bolivia’s poor growth performance during the last three decades. Although geographical characteristics are too stable to explain the dramatic fluctuations in growth rates over time in Bolivia, there are at...

This paper investigates the impacts of regional integration processes on poverty in Bolivia. It first demonstrates that regional integration has stimulated a diversion of trade away from traditional US and EU markets towards countries of MERCOSUR and the Andean Community. At the same time, the...

This paper analyses the performance of the hydrocarbons sector in Bolivia over the last 46 years. The analysis focuses on the factors that have determined the sector’s behavior overtime. First, there is the institutional framework that regulates the sector’s activities, which can play an...

This paper analyzes the process of reforms and counter-reforms witnessed in Bolivia over the last two and a half decades, and the effects these processes have had on productivity. In addition, the paper discusses the changing nature of the policy- making processes underlying the reform and...

This study focuses on analysing the linkages between output growth, employment and poverty, at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level, the linkage between poverty and output growth is conceptualised in terms of the average productivity of the employed work force, which in turn gets...