tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post3101937671135869474..comments2024-02-21T05:16:22.788-05:00Comments on Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog: Economic Policy in Venezuela and BoliviaGreg Weekshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-40065982480858306882014-03-19T18:44:01.227-04:002014-03-19T18:44:01.227-04:00empirical
empirical<br />jeff househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03308802956949466073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-45912952847758574882014-03-19T18:43:19.129-04:002014-03-19T18:43:19.129-04:00There's a lot of evidence there that Hugo Chav...There's a lot of evidence there that Hugo Chavez got a huge windfall, and utterly wasted it. <br /><br />But where is the evidence that the poor use a different benchmark than the middle class to determine whether they are sympathetic or not? <br /><br />Absent empiral evidence, that's a "just-so story." jeff househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03308802956949466073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-80752229890599428282014-03-18T10:44:50.342-04:002014-03-18T10:44:50.342-04:00Good point. Perhaps also oil provides an inflated ...Good point. Perhaps also oil provides an inflated sense of wealth that can be thrown around.Greg Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-57277689049800806792014-03-18T10:34:06.287-04:002014-03-18T10:34:06.287-04:00Perhaps due to the fact that Hugo Chavez claimed t...Perhaps due to the fact that Hugo Chavez claimed to be the mantle of regional leadership. He was obviously willing to bear the cost of this: the establishment of regional organizations (ALBA, PetroCaribe); subsidies to other countries (Nicaragua, Cuba); donations to other nations whether it be electrical plants, campaign contributions, funding to start-up TV stations and other state businesses in other countries, political (and possible financial support) to FARC in Colombia, etc. <br /><br />I can’t think of anyone who put this much effort for the sake of regional integration. This incurs huge expenditures and it has obviously payed off, just look at the multilateral inaction in Venezuela today. That's a byproduct of Venezuela's investments.Omarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16840588679698831003noreply@blogger.com