Can Dollarization Constrain a Populist Leader? The Case of Rafael Correa in Ecuador
Rafael Correa’s presidency in Ecuador (2007 – 2017) exemplifies left-leaning populist regimes in Latin America. However, there is a key difference: Ecuador is a dollarized economy. This removes the possibility of fiscal dominance over monetary policy as is common in populist regimes. This paper studies how dollarization constraints a populist leader. We discuss the incentives of a budget constraint immune to monetization and the failed attempt to launch a national digital currency.
Nicolás Cachanosky is Ph.D. in Economics from Suffolk University, Master in Economics and Political Sciences from Economía y Ciencias Políticas ESEADE and Bachelor in Economics from the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA). He is Associate Professor of Economics of the Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver). He is Senior Fellow of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) in the Sound Money Project. He is author of Monetary Equilibrium and Nominal Income Targeting (2018, Routledge) and co-author together with Peter Lewin of Austrian Capital Theory: A Survey of the Essentials (2019, Cambridge University Press) and Capital and Finance: Theory and History (2020, Routledge). His academic papers have been published in journals such as Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Review of Financial Economics, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Journal of Institutional Economics, Public Choice, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Southern Economic Journal, and The Review of Austrian Economics, among others. He is currently President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, serves in the Board of Directors of the Mont Pelerin Society and is member of the Academic Committee of the Acton Argentina Institute. He is editor of the Journal LIBERTAS: Segunda Época and is member of the editorial board of The Review of Austrian Economics and The Economists' Voice. He publishes columns in various Argentine media, such as La Nación, Infobae, El Cronista, Perfil and Ambito.
The seminar will be hosted by professor Gabriel Zanotti. Gabriel J. Zanotti was born on April 13, 1960. He is Professor and Graduate in Philosophy from the Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino (UNSTA - Northern University Santo Tomas de Aquino) and Doctor in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Argentina. He is Professor at the Faculty of Communication of the Austral University, undergraduate and graduate professor at the University of CEMA, Academic Director of Acton Argentina Institute and visiting professor of the University Francisco Marroquin of Guatemala. He has published : Economía de Mercado y Doctrina Social de la Iglesia ; Popper: búsqueda con esperanza ; Hacia una hermenèutica realista; Comentario a la Suma Contra Gentiles; Judeocristianismo, Civilización Occidental y Libertad.