Economic Policy in Bolivia

As I've written a number of times, Bolivia tends to fly under the radar with regard to economic policy. Evo Morales uses very strong anti-imperialist, anti-U.S., and pro-populist rhetoric, but he makes economic decisions in a conservative manner.

That's the upshot of an IMF article on the challenge of low commodity prices for Bolivia, which is pretty much glowing. A self-proclaimed socialist is receiving praise for "sound policies" by the IMF. It is testament to the successes of the Evo Morales government, which has made lots of people forget how horribly and chronically unstable Bolivia was not long ago.

It also made me think that now the time should be ripe to step down and let someone else deal with future challenges. But he seems not to like the idea of letting anyone else govern. If he manages to stay in power amidst an extended period of low commodity prices, then watch for those approval ratings to start plummeting.