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Full-Text Articles in Latin American Studies

Long Live Democracy: The Determinants Of Political Instability In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier Sep 2015

Long Live Democracy: The Determinants Of Political Instability In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of political instability in Latin America. In a panel of 18 Latin American countries from 1971 to 2000, we find that democratic countries experience less average instability in the region, indicating that the move to increased democracy in the last couple decades may alleviate the persistent problem of instability in the area. We also find that income inequality and ethnic fractionalization are important determinants of instability. Countries with low levels of inequality also suffer less instability on average, while ethnic diversity has a non-linear effect on instability. Many macroeconomic variables commonly thought to …


Explaining The Rise Of The Left In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier Sep 2015

Explaining The Rise Of The Left In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

Latin American politics has taken a left-hand turn in the last decade, with an increasing number of chief executives hailing from left-of-center parties. We investigate the political and socio-economic factors explaining political ideology of the chief executive in a sample of 100 elections taking place between 1975 and 2007 in eighteen Latin American countries. We find that the commodity booms in agricultural, mining and oil are positively and significantly related to the probability that a country will have a chief executive from a left-of-center political party. However, for oil exports, we observe that this effect only holds for Venezuela. We …


The Finance–Growth Link Revisited And The Role Of Institutions As A Source Of Finance In Latin America, Luisa Blanco Sep 2015

The Finance–Growth Link Revisited And The Role Of Institutions As A Source Of Finance In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

In a panel framework that includes 18 countries, this paper studies the short and long run effect of financial development on economic growth and the determinants of financial development in Latin America. Financial development shows a positive effect on economic growth in the long run, but a negative effect in the short run for the full sample. When the sample is divided by income levels, this result holds only for the high income group. For the low income group, financial development has no significant effect on economic growth in the short run or in the long run. In the analysis …


The Impact Of Fdi On Co₂ Emissions In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Fidel Gonzalez, Isabel Ruiz Sep 2015

The Impact Of Fdi On Co₂ Emissions In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Fidel Gonzalez, Isabel Ruiz

Luisa Blanco

This paper uses panel Granger causality tests to study the relationship between sector specific FDI and CO2 emissions. Using a sample of 18 Latin American countries for the 1980-2007 period, we find causality running from FDI in polluting intensive industries (“the dirty sector”) to CO2 emissions per capita. This result is robust to controlling for other factors associated with CO2 emissions and using the ratio of CO2 emissions to GDP. For other sectors, we find no robust evidence that FDI causes CO2 emissions.


The (Non) Effect Of Natural Resource Dependence On Capital Accumulation In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier Sep 2015

The (Non) Effect Of Natural Resource Dependence On Capital Accumulation In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

In a simultaneous model of human and physical capital accumulation for 17 Latin American countries from 1975 to 2004, we show that overall resource dependence is not significantly related to physical and human capital. Disaggregating the natural resource variable into subcategories, we find that petroleum export dependence is associated with higher physical capital and lower human capital, while agricultural export dependence is often associated with lower levels of physical capital. All of these effects are quantitatively small, however, casting doubt on the idea that natural resource dependence has stifled the accumulation of capital in the region.


The Finance–Growth Link In Latin America, Luisa Blanco Sep 2015

The Finance–Growth Link In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

This paper analyzes the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Latin America with a Granger causality test and impulse response functions in a panel vector autoregression model. Using annual observations from a sample of 18 countries from 1962 to 2005, it is shown that while economic growth causes financial development, financial development does not cause economic growth. This finding is robust to different model specifications and different financial indicators. Interestingly, when the sample is divided according to different income levels and institutional quality, there is two way causality between financial development and economic growth only for the middle …


The Impact Of Spatial Interdependence On Fdi In Latin America, Luisa Blanco Sep 2015

The Impact Of Spatial Interdependence On Fdi In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

This analysis considers whether spatial interdependence is an important determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America. Two types of spatial interdependence are explored: 1) surrounding market potential and 2) spatial autocorrelation of FDI. Using a sample of 17 Latin American countries, with observations from 1986 to 2006, we find that spatial interdependence matters for world net FDI in the region. Surrounding market potential has a positive effect on FDI of significant magnitude, but there is no evidence that FDI is spatially autocorrelated. Other contributors to FDI in this analysis include governance, specifically control of corruption, and exports of …


The Impact Of Insecurity On Democracy And Trust In Institutions In Mexico, Luisa Blanco Dec 2011

The Impact Of Insecurity On Democracy And Trust In Institutions In Mexico, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

Using survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) and Encuesta Nacional Sobre la Inseguridad (ENSI) for Mexico during the period 2004-2010, this paper analyses the impact of insecurity and crime victimization on support and satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions. With the LAPOP data, perceptions about higher insecurity decrease support and satisfaction with democracy. Perceptions of insecurity and crime victimization have a negative significant effect on trust in institutions, and this finding is robust to using LAPOP and ENSI data. Perceptions of insecurity and crime victimization have a larger negative effect on trust in institutions that …


War In Pieces: Amia And The Triple Frontier In Argentine And American Discourse On Terrorism, Nathaniel Greenberg Dec 2009

War In Pieces: Amia And The Triple Frontier In Argentine And American Discourse On Terrorism, Nathaniel Greenberg

Nathaniel Greenberg

July 18, 2010 marked yet another anniversary of the still unsolved terrorist attack that shook Argentina some sixteen years ago. Prior to September 11, Argentina in fact suffered two deadly terrorist attacks. The second of these, the bombing of La Asociación Mutual Israeli-Argentina (AMIA) on July 18, 1994, was the single largest attack targeting Jews since WWII and the largest terrorist attack in Latin American history. While the group “Islamic Jihad [Organization]” described by the FBI as “a covername” used by Hizbollah, claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, explanations for the AMIA …