The Market and the Masses in Latin America: Policy Reform and Consumption in Liberalizing Economies

ISBN-13: 9780521899680 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 358 str.

Andy Baker

Opis

What do ordinary citizens in developing countries think about free markets? Conventional wisdom views globalization as an imposition on unwilling workers in developing nations, concluding that the recent rise of the Latin American left constitutes a popular backlash against the market. Andy Baker marshals public opinion data from eighteen Latin American countries to show that most of the region's citizens are enthusiastic about globalization because it has lowered the prices of many consumer goods and services while improving their variety and quality. Among recent free-market reforms, only privatization has caused pervasive discontent because it has raised prices for services like electricity and telecommunications. Citizens' sharp awareness of these consumer consequences informs Baker's argument that a new political economy of consumption has replaced a previously dominant politics of labor and class in Latin America. Baker s research clarifies the sources of voters' connection to new leftwing parties and helps account for their leaders' moderation and nuanced approach to economic policy, embracing globalization while stalling or reversing privatization."

Recenzje

'Andy Baker has written an impressive study of political economy and a pioneering work of public opinion formation in Latin America. [He] marshals an abundance of survey evidence in support of the theoretical claim that Latin Americans cast ballots as consumers, not as producers.' Fabrice Lehoucq, Bulletin of Latin American Research

Spis treści

Part I. Introduction and Theory: 1. Consuming the Washington consensus; 2. Theoretical framework: the top-down and bottom-up sources of public opinion; Part II. Mass Beliefs about Market Policies in Latin America: 3. The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Latin America; 4. Are Latin Americans neoliberals?; 5. Are the poor neoliberals?; Part III. Mass Support for Reform in Brazil: 6. The economic consequences and elite rhetoric of market reform in Brazil; 7. How many Brazilians support market reforms?; 8. Which Brazilians support market reforms?; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. The politics of consumismo in Latin America.