Political Economy of Global Economic Disgovernance Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira

The author argues that the recurring balance of payment crises in developing countries and the enormous current account deficit in the United States is proof of global economic disgovernance. Both these sources of instability are related with current account deficits and overvalued currencies; results of what political economists define as exchange rate populism. Such a policy is not surprising in developing countries, but could be in a developed country like the United States. Yet, when one considers the political and social retrocession that the American society is experiencing since the end of World War II, it is not.

disgovernance (Download the full text in PDF format)

(This paper was originally presented to the conference “The Political Economy of Governance” sponsored by the Centre d’Etudes Monétaires et Financières – LATEC (Umr Cnrs), Dijon, December 2-3, 2005. This is a revised version of January 15, 2006.)