Böcker av Jorge Salazar-Carrillo

Looking at how Latin American countries have coped with the 1994 Mexican crisis and the earlier debt crisis of the 1980s, this book reveals the full extent of what has come to be known as the tequila effect.

In it, Salazar-Carrillo provides estimates that have not been published previously on the Venezuelan economy in general, and the oil component in particular. Evolution of the oil industry in Venezuela is covered in detail and the concept of the retained value of oil expenditures and tnvestment is developed.

An understanding of price structures and their impact on trade, productivity, and other related factors will aid in formulation of price policies promoting economic growth and development.

Looking at the economic distress which pervades countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, this book considers the role which foreign investment can play in the reactivation of these economies, many of which have experienced a steadily deterioration of the importance of foreign investment, but it is not seen as a short-term panacea that can alleviate the financial stringencies facing Latin America; it must be seen in the context of an effort to increase internal savings and to assure greater efficiency of investment, which are the essential immediate objectives that would allow Latin America to resume economic growth and, at the same time, repay its external debt.

This book advances the theory that a potential leading export sector-in this case, the oil sector-is capable of inducing economic growth even in peripheral countries where the product line is primary in nature. In Venezuela the oil sector has contributed directly and indirectly to the development of the country's overall economy, particularly from 1936 to 1973, when that sector met the criteria of a leading sector, i.e., one that expands rapidly and obtains a large specific size relative to the economy as a whole. Oil investment in Venezuela contributed to the fiscal sector, the foreign sector, GDP, income, backward and forward linkages, the multiplier and accelerator effects, and the retained value of total expenditures. In spite of recent efforts to diversify the production and export mix, the Venezuelan economy continues to remain heavily dependent on oil production for export.During the midcentury decades of solid growth, it became evident that government oversight was needed to ensure that the numerous contributions flowing from the oil sector would be put to good use. Overall, it appears that the contributions were well utilized by the Venezuelan government, although there was plenty of room for improvement. Income distribution problems and other social inequities continued to beset the development process, leaving the economy rigid and inflexible. Consequently, when the oil sector faltered (1974 to 2000), Venezuela was unable to shift into other product lines. Political disarray soon followed, and with it a pervasive aura of economic uncertainty that persists to this day.