Friedrich List and Dutch Disease: two sides of the same coin?

ABSTRACT Comparing List’s development problem to Dutch Disease, as generalized by Bresser-Pereira, one sees quite a few similarities. While the exchange rate was understandably of no concern to List, it is meanwhile one if not the most important determinant of trade flows. This generalized Dutch Dis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 2020-07, Vol.40 (3), p.493-509
Main Author: Raffer, Kunibert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dutch Disease
ECONOMICS
exchange rate
infant industry
List
POLITICAL SCIENCE
unorthodox approaches
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT Comparing List’s development problem to Dutch Disease, as generalized by Bresser-Pereira, one sees quite a few similarities. While the exchange rate was understandably of no concern to List, it is meanwhile one if not the most important determinant of trade flows. This generalized Dutch Disease approach is a valuable contribution to the debate on appropriate economic policies in Southern countries. It shows a way to counter mal-developments. It certainly deserves further discussion because quite a few countries suffer from it. Bresser’s arguments fit very well into other unorthodox approaches that also tried to counter the inefficiency of really existing markets with workable proposals, which orthodoxy has quite successfully supressed. This paper also makes a proposal that might help for agro-exporting countries. RESUMO Comparando o problema de desenvolvimento de List com a doença holandesa, como generalizado por Bresser-Pereira, vemos algumas semelhanças. Embora a taxa de câmbio não tenha sido compreensível para List, ela é, entretanto, uma, se não a mais importante, determinante dos fluxos comerciais. Essa abordagem generalizada da doença holandesa é uma contribuição valiosa para o debate sobre políticas econômicas apropriadas nos países do Sul. Ela mostra uma maneira de combater desenvolvimentos ruins. Certamente merece mais discussão porque muitos países sofrem com isso. Os argumentos de Bresser se encaixam muito bem em outras abordagens não ortodoxas que também tentaram combater a ineficiência de mercados realmente existentes com propostas viáveis, que a ortodoxia suprimiu com sucesso. Esse artigo também faz uma proposta que possa ajudar países agro-exportadores.
ISSN:0101-3157
1809-4538
1809-4538
DOI:10.1590/0101-31572020-3118