Re: Re: Thanks Brad, was The legacy of Juan Perón

[Brad DeLong <delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I have never seen as concise description of social democracy.  I like Alice
> Amsden's refutation of your perspective -- especially her praise of
> getting prices
> wrong.
>
> Brad De Long wrote:
>
> >   in a mixed economy, the government
> >  should be used to redistribute income and the market used to allocate
> >  resources; to get things backward--as Peron did, using the government
> >  to allocate resources and regulating market prices to redistribute
> >  income--doesn't work.
>
> --
> Michael Perelman

Since you have read Amsden, you know that the policies that she
recommends are the complete opposite of those that Peron pursued.
Amsden believes in subsidizing exports. Peron taxed them. Amsden
believes in making it easy for export-oriented companies to acquire
the hard currency they need to buy capital goods. Peron made it
impossible for export-oriented companies to purchase foreign-made
capital goods. Amsden believes in an undervalued exchange rate to
promote exports and increase employment. Peron believed in using
exchange controls to maintain an overvalued exchange rate to maximize
terms of trade.

In my view, there is a lot of truth in Amsden's "getting prices
wrong" position. But as you know, her judgment of Peronist policies
is much, much harsher and much, much more negative than mine.


Brad DeLong