El Duderino and BoRev on the Atlantic on Morales

In my last post I critiqued Barclay’s article in the Atlantic.  I was mainly interested in the way that racial conflict was being invoked, and honestly, it was an off-the-cuff post.  I linked to two bloggers who write regularly about Bolivia.  Miguel suggested that instead of critiquing Barclay I should critique them instead.  Miguel has [...]

Newsweek coverage of Bolivia

Newsweek just published an online interview with Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. It has been excerpted, but this provides a succinct summary of the issues and what is at stake.

Inflation creeping up (again) in Bolivia

Ever since the 1984-1985 hyperinflation (which hit 60,000 percent in its final month), Bolivians have been especially worried about inflation. And except for a spike in 1991 (21.4%), inflation in Bolivia has remained below 20% since 1985. Today’s La Razón has a special section on inflation. So far, it doesn’t look like a major crisis [...]

Is “Renta Dignidad” sound policy?

I get the INESAD (Institute for Advanced Development Studies) newsletters in my email on a regular basis. I should point some of them out. But this most recent one on the government’s new Renta Dignidad (an expanded version of the BONOSOL pension) is interesting:
“Governments Giving Gifts – Populations Acquiring Rights”
The short piece argues that the [...]

Municipal tax revenues

An article in today’s La Razón points out that Bolivia’s municipalities face a 23% drop in revenue transfers from the hydrocarbons tax. Bolivia’s central government collects this tax revenue. Under the 1994 Popular Participation law, the government then redistributes the revenue to municipal authorities. The government argues that because of the anticipated rise in tax [...]