Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T08:45:26.920Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Opportunistic Government or Sustaining Reform? Electoral Trends and Public-Expenditure Patterns in Peru, 1990-1995

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Carol Graham
Affiliation:
The Brookings Institution
Cheikh Kane
Affiliation:
The World Bank
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Consensus is growing about the fundamental principles underlying economic policy reforms. In addition, a series of recent comparative studies have increased scholarly understanding of the political conditions necessary for launching such reforms. Yet understanding of the factors that make reforms sustainable over the longer term is far less developed. A wide-ranging and unresolved debate continues over the roles played by institutions, politicians, interest groups, and the popular sectors. The influence of such groups tends to be marginal during the initial implementation of policies, a process involving an insulated group of technocrats. As the reforms proceed, the opposition of different societal groups to specific policies may have some impact but is less critical to the success or failure of the adjustment program than overall economic performance (see Geddes 1995). The primary strength of these groups is retrospective and collective: they can vote reforming governments out of office. Elections—and therefore voter behavior—are critical in sustaining economic reforms over the long term. Voters can reverse economic reform programs, and at times they do. Yet they also can play a major role in making programs more sustainable by legitimating their continuation at the ballot box.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Alan Angell, Michael Coppedge, George Graham, and Carol Wise as well as four anonymous LARR reviewers for their helpful comments.

References

Alesina, Alberto n.d. “Elections, Party Structure, and the Economy.” Manuscript.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and Drazen, Allan 1991Why Are Stabilizations Delayed?The American Economic Review 81:1170–88.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and Perotti, Roberto 1994The Political Economy of Growth: A Critical Survey of the Recent Literature.” World Bank Economic Review 8, no. 3:351–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apoyo, S.A. 1993Resultados de las elecciones municipales: Informe de opinión.” In-house document, Apoyo, Lima.Google Scholar
Birdsall, Nancy, Ross, David, and Sabot, Richard 1995Inequality and Growth Reconsidered.” World Bank Economic Review 9, no. 3 (Sept.):477508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Maxwell, and Mauceri, Philip, EDS. n.d. The Peruvian Labyrinth. State Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Conaghan, Catherine 1995aPublic Life in the Time of Alberto Fujimori.” Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, 27–30 Sept., Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Conaghan, Catherine 1995bStars of the Crisis: The Ascent of Economists in Peruvian Public Life.” Paper presented at a CEDLA Workshop, “New Political Actors,” 14–16 Sept., Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Coppedge, Michael n.d. “District Magnitude, Economic Performance, and Party-System Fragmentation in Five Latin American Countries.” Comparative Political Studies, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Crabtree, John 1995 The 1995 Elections in Peru: The End of the Line for the Party System. Occasional Paper no. 12. London: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London.Google Scholar
Cukierman, Alex, and Meltzer, Adam 1986A Positive Theory of Discretionary Policy, The Costs of a Democratic Government, and the Benefits of a Constitution.” Economic Inquiry 24 (July):451–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dominguez, Jorge, and Mccann, James 1995Shaping Mexico's Electoral Arena: The Construction of Partisan Cleavages in the 1988 and 1991 National Elections.” American Political Science Review 89, no. 1 (Mar.):3448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duverger, Maurice 1967 Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Favaro, Edgardo, and Macisaac, Donna 1995Who Benefited from Peru's Reform Program? A Poverty Note.” In-house document, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Filgueira, Fernando, and Papadopulos, Jorge n.d. “Putting Conservatism to Good Use? Long Crises and Vetoed Alternatives in Uruguay.” Manuscript.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara 1994How Politicians Decide Who Bears the Cost of Economic Liberalization.” In Transition to a Market Economy at the End of the Twentieth Century, edited by Ivan Berend. Munich: Sudosteuropa-Gesellschaft.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara 1995The Politics of Economic Liberalization.” LARR 30, no. 2:195214.Google Scholar
Glewwe, Paul, and Hall, Gillette 1992Poverty and Inequality during Unorthodox Adjustment: The Case of Peru, 1985–90.” Living Standards Measurement Survey, Working Paper no. 86. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Graham, Carol 1991The APRA Government and the Urban Poor: The PAIT Programme in Lima's Pueblos Jóvenes.” Journal of Latin American Studies 21, pt. 1 (Feb.):91121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, Carol 1992 Peru's APRA: Parties, Politics, and the Elusive Quest for Democratic Consolidation. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Graham, Carol 1994 Safety Nets, Politics, and the Poor: Transitions to Market Economies. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Webb, Stephen B. 1994 Voting for Reform: Democracy, Adjustment, and Political Liberalization. New York: Oxford University Press and the World Bank.Google Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas 1992Partisan Theory after Fifteen Years.” European Journal of Political Economics 8:342–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanashiro, Hilary Creed, and De RomaÑA, Guillermo Lopez 1991The Effects of Economic Crisis on Feeding Patterns and Infantile Malnutrition in Urban Populations in Peru.” In-house document, Instituto de Investigación Nutricional, Lima.Google Scholar
Kane, Cheikh, and Morrisett, Jacques 1993 Who Would Vote for Inflation in Brazil. Policy Research Working Papers no. 1,183, Latin America and Caribbean Region. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Kay, Bruce H. 1995Fujipopulism and the Liberal State in Peru, 1990–1995.” Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association meeting, 27–30 Sept., Washington, D.C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keech, William R., and Kyoungsan, Pak 1989Electoral Cycles and Budgetary Growth in Veterans' Benefit Programs.” American Journal of Political Science 33, no. 4:901–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keefer, Philip 1995The Policy Effects of Political and Electoral Institutions in Developing Countries.” In-house document, Policy Research Department, World Bank, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Nelson, Joan 1992Poverty, Equity, and the Politics of Adjustment.” In The Politics of Adjustment: International Constraints, Distributive Conflicts, and the State, edited by Haggard, Stephan and Kaufmann, Robert, 129–53. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, William 1975The Political Business Cycle.” Review of Economic Studies 42 (1975):169–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, David Scott 1995Peru's 1995 Elections: A Second Look.” LASA Forum 26, no. 2 (Summer):1720.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido 1990 Macroeconomic Policy, Credibility, and Politics. Boston, Mass.: Harwood.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert 1993 Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Italy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Remmer, Karen L. 1993The Political Economy of Elections in Latin America, 1980–91.” American Political Science Review 87 (July):393407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth 1995Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Populism in Latin America: The Peruvian Case.” World Politics 48, no. 1 (Oct.):82116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth, and Arce, Moises n.d. “Neoliberalism and Lower-Class Voting Behavior in Peru.” Comparative Political Studies, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Rogoff, Kenneth, and Sibert, Anne 1988Equilibrium Political Business Cycles.” Review of Economic Studies 55 (Jan.):2945.Google Scholar
Sagasti, Francisco, Patron, Pepi, Lynch, Nicolas, and Hernandez, Max 1995 Democracia y buen gobierno: Agenda Perú. Lima: Apoyo.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni 1976 Parties and Party Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tuesta, Fernando, ED. n.d. La política bajo Fujimori: Partidos, elecciones y opinión pública. Lima: Fundación Friedrich Ebert.Google Scholar
Tufte, Edward 1978 Political Control of the Economy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, John 1993 The Political Economy of Policy Reform. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
WORLD BANK 1994Peru: Public Expenditure Review.” Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar