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• Chile and the Global Depression

  132-146

  Andrea Postenyi

  Views:

  124

  The 2007-2009 economic crisis ended an exceptional, five year-long economic boom for Chile and other countries in Latin America. The most beneficial economic outcome of the upswing was the fundamental improvement of the region’s countries in terms of the current crisis, which greatly reduce these countries’ vulnerability to external economic shocks. Based on the previous assumption several economists shared the opinion that “This time things are different”. That is, the fate of the continent in the current crisis will be decided differently as the global downturn has barely affected the region’s economic indicators. However, from September 2008 it has become apparent that the continent’s economy remains vulnerable. The crisis, which has infected the real economy through multiple channels, has reached two major victims of the recession, - Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe – leaving them with a decline in GDP per capita and the slowdown of economic growth. Conversely, Chile experienced a decline of a lesser extent due to its structural reforms and was able to re-orientate to its previous growth path much quicker than the rest of the continent’s economy after the ending of the crisis.

  JEL classification: O54, H12, O20

• Analysis of Fiscal Policy in the Countries of the PaCifiCa

  109-126

  Andrea Postenyi

  Views:

  117

  Volatility has been a main factor in Latin America for decades, but these countries have managed to eliminate it more or less successfully by a series of reforms over the last few decades. Regional integrations have emerged in response to the challenges of globalisation. The most recently created integration is the PaCifiCa, and it is worth analyzing the current fiscal situation of its member states, which largely determines the success of future cooperation. Although the four countries observed managed to survive the 2007-2009 crisis with stable fundamentals, the downturn drew attention to the differences between these countries: while Chile and Peru are able to react easily to cyclical swings by applying countercyclical policy, the economies of Colombia and Mexico are much more vulnerable. The assessment of the welfare systems shows that although Chile has an extensive welfare system, the countries in the region still significantly lag behind the traditional concept of welfare state.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: H50, H60