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REVISTA DE ECONOMÍA
INSTITUCIONAL No. 14,
FIRST SEMESTER 2006
 Eduardo
Wiesner's Contribution to Colombian Economic Thought
Jorge Iván González [pdf] [html]
[Key words: Eduardo Wiesner, Colombian economic thought,
public policy, public choice; JEL: B31, H11, H50]
This article summarizes the main line thought of Eduardo
Wiesner, who has greatly influenced Colombian public policy.
Wiesner is aware of the most important discussions on
contemporary economic theory and has been able to convert
them into legislative proposals. He shows the importance of
market incentives from different angles, without denying the
central role of the institutions. His careful approach has
not been reflected in the resulting laws, which end up
contaminated by the simplistic spirit of technocracy.
Wiesner studies the passage from individual choice to
collective choice from the optic of public choice theory,
and plays down the importance of the impossibilities derived
from the social election theory. The article criticizes this
option because it leads people to wrongly think that the
market logic can be applied to a wide range of goods,
including education and health.
The Concept of Liberty in Norberto Bobbio's Political
Theory
Carlos Bernal Pulido [pdf] [html]
[Key Words: liberty, Norberto Bobbio, social rights; JEL:
B30, K19]
This essay offers a critical reconstruction of Noberto
Bobbio's concept of liberty. The historical and analytical
review of his work leads to the identification of three
descriptive uses of the concept of liberty: negative or
liberal liberty, democratic liberty or autonomy, and
positive liberty, of a socialist type. In the second part,
the reaches and limitations of these three uses are
commented on, highlighting the insufficiency of dichotomy
between negative and positive liberty, the incompatibility
of negative liberty with the legally and fundamentally
reinforced idea of liberty consecrated in the Colombian
Constitution and the foundation of social rights such as the
realization of liberty, that in a State based on the rule
and law can be based independently or as a means to be able
to really exercise the liberties.
Fundamental Rights and Economic Consequences
Everaldo Lamprea M. [pdf] [html]
[Key words: deontological theories, consequencialist
theories, Constitutional Court, economic jurisprudence; JEL:
K10, K40]
This article explores the confrontation between
deontological and consequencialist theories in the debate
between jurists and economists regarding the Colombian
Constitutional Court's jurisprudence. The main argument is
that although the theories differ in many important points,
they are not irreconcilable in their “integrated” versions.
It shows that the Colombian Constitutional Court tends to
adopt an “integrated” deontological view in its rulings on
economic matters and that if the economic establishment used
arguments derived from an integrated consequencialist view,
the gap between jurists and economist's ways of thinking
would begin to close.
Monetary Policy and Constitutional Court:
the Minimum Wage Case
Marc Hofstetter [pdf] [html]
[Key words: monetary policy, Constitutional Court,
minimum salary, inflation; JEL: E31, E32, E51, E58, K31]
In 1999 the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled that annual
minimum wage increases should not be lower than the
inflation of the previous year. This article explores the
impact of this decision on the effectiveness of monetary
policy, and shows that the obligation to adjust the salary
to past inflation leads monetary policy to have more effect
on real activity and generates more persistent inflation.
Understanding the Relationship between Institutions and
Economic Development. Some Key Theoretical Issues
Ha-Joon Chang [pdf] [html]
[Key words: institutions, economic development,
institutional forms and functions; JEL: B52, O10]
This paper discusses how the theory on the role of
institutions in development can be improved, by critically
examining the current orthodox discourse on institutions. To
understand the relationship between institutions and
economic development, it is necessary to have some balance
between institutional forms and functions, and to accept its
multi-faceted nature. It concludes that a successful
institutional adaptation must be politically legitimated by
the members of society and requires a better knowledge of
the historical and contemporary experiences of each country.
Legal Institutions and Economic Growth: The Asian Experience
Germán Burgos [pdf] [html]
[Key words: legal institutions, formal institutions,
informal institutions, economic growth; JEL: H10, O17, O49]
This article shows that the consensus about the importance
of institutions for economic growth is derived from Weber
and North, for whom legal institutions make it possible to
predict the State's and economic agent's actions. For Weber,
law based on formal rationality contributed to the
development of capitalism, creating a safe environment for
investment. For North, the limitation of State abuses
guaranteed the establishment of property rights that
promoted market expansion. This article tries to demonstrate
that the experience of some Asian countries questions this
consensus, as they reached high rates of growth without
formal legal institutions to limit the abusive action of the
State and to make its behaviour predictable.
Relations between Democracy and Development in the Andean
Countries. A Political Economy Approach
Édgard Moncayo Jiménez [pdf] [html]
[Key words: democracy, development, income distribution,
political economy; JEL: H11, O15]
Democratic governance during the last two decades in the
Andean countries contrasts sharply with low levels of
economic growth and the increase in unemployment and
poverty. This essay argues that the Gordian knot of this
paradox is the high level of inequality in income
distribution. This inequality is the cause and consequence
of the malfunctioning of the economic and the political
system, since economic elites control political power and
create institutions and policies that reflect the interests
of the wealthy rather than the common interest. This creates
a vicious circle in which “controlled” democracy reproduces
and expands the inequalities that bore it.
Dilemmas of an Economic Theorist
Ariel Rubinstein [pdf] [html]
[Key Words: dilemmas, economic theory, absurd conclusions,
relevance; JEL: A11, A13]
What on earth are economic theorists like me trying to
accomplish? The paper discusses four dilemmas encountered by
an economic theorist: i) the dilemma of absurd conclusions:
should we abandon a model if it produces absurd conclusions
or should we regard a model as a very limited set of
assumptions which will inevitably fail in some contexts?;
ii) the dilemma of responding to evidence: should our models
be judged according to experimental results?; iii) the
dilemma of model-less regularities: should models provide
the hypothesis for testing or are they simply exercises in
logic which have no use in identifying regularities?, and
iv) the dilemma of relevance: do we have the right to offer
advice or to make statements which are intended to influence
the real world?
The Argentinean Firms indebtedness in an Economic Crisis
(1983-1991)
Sergio A. Berumen y Fabio Bagnasco Petrelli [pdf] [html]
[Key words: Argentinean firms, indebtedness, economic
crisis, autofinancing; JEL: F32, G31, G32]
The significant number of banking credits granted to the
Argentinean firms during the period 1983-1991 makes it
necessary to study the causes of this serious debt. This
article analyses the weakness of the self-financing rate and
the effect of external support, as well as the effects
related with the economic environment that encouraged this
debt. Agency and information theories, at the macroeconomic
level, are used to fulfil this objective.
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