IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/2153.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inflation Stabilization with Incomes Policy Support: A Review of the Experience in Argentina, Brazil and Israel

Author

Listed:
  • Rudiger Dornbusch
  • Mario Henrique Simonsen

Abstract

In 1985-86 Argentina, Brazil and Israel initiated programs of stabilization after episodes of high and sharply accelerating inflation. Among the key features of each stabilization program were the use of wage- price controls, a fixed exchange rate and fiscal correction as well as a significant expansion in the nominal quantity of money. The combination of fiscal correction and incomes policy has come to be known as "heterodox" stabilization policy, thus opposing it to the conventional IHF programs which emphasize tight monetary and fiscal policies as the exclusive instrument of stabilization. The stabilization programs in Argentina and Israel have now been in force for over a year and the more recent one in Brazil for half a year. There is accordingly enough evidence to make a first judgment on the success and the limitations of these new schemes. At the same time it is worthwhile spelling out some of the special features of stabilization and the resulting intellectual case for heterodox programs. The paper focuses on the conceptual issues related to the use of incomes policy in the context of stabilization when inertia is a central feature, The analysis includes the relation between deficits and inflation, inertial inflation and the basics of monetary reform. We also review the actual stabilization experience in Argentina, Brazil and Israel. The paper concludes with a discussion of the political dimension of stabilization, showing the extraordinary political popularity of the new programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Rudiger Dornbusch & Mario Henrique Simonsen, 1987. "Inflation Stabilization with Incomes Policy Support: A Review of the Experience in Argentina, Brazil and Israel," NBER Working Papers 2153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2153
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w2153.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Persio Arida & André Lara Resende, 1985. "Inertial inflation and monetary reform in Brazil," Textos para discussão 85, Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil).
    2. Vittorio Corbo & Jaime de Melo & James Tybout, 2015. "What Went Wrong with the Recent Reforms in the Southern Cone," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Developing Countries in the World Economy, chapter 2, pages 21-54, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Calvo, Guillermo A, 1986. "Fractured Liberalism: Argentina under Martinez de Hoz," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 511-533, April.
    4. Melnick, Rafi & Sokoler, Meir, 1984. "The government's revenue from money creation and the inflationary effects of a decline in the rate of growth of G.N.P," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 225-236, March.
    5. James Tobin, 1980. "Stabilization Policy Ten Years After," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 11(1, Tenth ), pages 19-90.
    6. Zalman F. Shiffer, 1986. "Adjusting to high inflation: the Israeli experience," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 18-29.
    7. Fernandez, Roque B., 1985. "The expectations management approach to stabilization in Argentina during 1976-1982," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 871-892, August.
    8. Stanley Fischer, 1986. "Indexing, Inflation, and Economic Policy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561638, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John H. Welch, 1991. "Hyperinflation, and internal debt repudiation in Argentina and Brazil: from expectations management to the \"Bonex\" and \"Collor\" plans," Working Papers 9107, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    2. Stanley Fischer & Ratna Sahay & Carlos A. Végh, 2002. "Modern Hyper- and High Inflations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 837-880, September.
    3. Lora, Eduardo, 1997. "A Decade of Structural Reforms in Latin America: What Has Been Reformed and How to Measure It," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 6205, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Vegh, Carlos, 1991. "Stopping High Inflation: An Analytical Overview," MPRA Paper 20175, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Rudiger Dornbusch & Juan Carlos de Pablo, 1990. "References," NBER Chapters, in: Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, Volume 2: Country Studies—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, pages 150-156, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Carlos A Vegh & Guillermo Vuletin, 2014. "The Road to Redemption: Policy Response to Crises in Latin America," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 62(4), pages 526-568, November.
    7. Kiguel, Miguel A. & Liviatan, Nissan, 1988. "Inflationary rigidities and stabilization policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4, The World Bank.
    8. David H. Howard, 1987. "Exchange rate regimes and macroeconomic stabilization in a developing country," International Finance Discussion Papers 314, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Roberto Frankel & Martín Rapetti, 2010. "A Concise History of Exchange Rate Regimes in Latin America," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2010-11, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    10. Calvo, Guillermo A. & Vegh, Carlos A., 1999. "Inflation stabilization and bop crises in developing countries," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 24, pages 1531-1614, Elsevier.
    11. Kathryn M. Dominguez, 1991. "Do Exchange Auctions Work? An Examination of the Bolivian Experience," NBER Working Papers 3683, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Liu, Lili, 1991. "Entry-exit, learning, and productivity change : evidence from Chile," Policy Research Working Paper Series 769, The World Bank.
    13. Henry, Peter B., 2000. "Is Disinflation Good for Growth?," Research Papers 1657, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    14. Roberto M. Billi, 2020. "Output Gaps and Robust Monetary Policy Rules," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 16(2), pages 125-152, March.
    15. Jean-Paul Pollin & William Marois, 1985. "Avant-propos," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 36(6), pages 1155-1168.
    16. Emilie Jašová, 2009. "Similarities and Differences in Development of Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment and Economic Cycle in Selected Countries in Central Europe by 2008 [Podobnosti a rozdíly ve vývoji mír," Současná Evropa, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(1), pages 35-51.
    17. Sylvia Staudinger, 2000. "Inflation Targeting versus Nominal Income Targeting," CESifo Working Paper Series 301, CESifo.
    18. Sebastian Edwards & Thomas O. Enders & Jesus Silva-Herzog, 1988. "The United States and Foreign Competition in Latin America," NBER Chapters, in: The United States in the World Economy, pages 9-77, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Bozani, Vasiliki & Drydakis, Nick, 2011. "Studying the NAIRU and its Implications," IZA Discussion Papers 6079, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Hofstetter, Marc, 2008. "Disinflations in Latin America and the Caribbean: A free lunch?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 327-345, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2153. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.