Analysis: Economy

Maduro Wins Narrowly on Chávez Record; Close Election is a Wake-up Call for the Government

ewan — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:07:37 +0000

Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian

After a short but bitterly fought, insult-laden campaign, Chávista standard-bearer Nicolás Maduro defeated challenger Henrique Capriles, thus assuring continuity in Venezuela after the death of the former president, Hugo Chávez, last month. But the election was much closer than the polls predicted: a margin of just 1.6%, or about 275,000 votes.

Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution: Legacy and Challenges

ewan — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:59:29 +0000

Manuel Larrabure – The Bullet / Socialist Project

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has prompted the international left to acknowledge two key features about him and Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, writes Manuel Larrabure.

Venezuelan Economic and Social Performance Under Hugo Chávez, in Graphs

ewan — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:10:01 +0000

Jake Johnston and Sara Kozameh - CEPR

On Tuesday, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez passed away after 14 years in office. Below is a series of graphs that illustrate the economic and social changes that have taken place in Venezuela during this time period.

Venezuela's Devaluation Doom-mongers

tamara — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:26:56 +0000

Mark Weisbrot - The Guardian

Venezuela's recent devaluation has sparked quite a bit of discussion in the international press. The Venezuelan opposition has naturally framed it as desperate move to head off inevitable economic collapse.

Chávez Haters Not “Limited by Truth, Reality or Common Sense”

chris — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:36:40 +0000

Dan Beeton - CEPR

A new op-ed in the Guardian by Ricardo Hausmann portrays a dystopian fictional Venezuela, one in which the Venezuelan government has run the economy into the ground despite abundant oil wealth, but yet its charismatic president continues to be re-elected through some sort of sinister trickery.

We’re Not Going to Allow Shortages or Messing with Prices

ewan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:39:31 +0000

Ciudad CCS / Consuelo Cerrada

The Venezuelan government continues its fight against price speculation, hoarding and sporadic shortages of certain products. Venezuelanalysis.com translates this interview with the president of Indepabis, the government’s consumer protection body charged with inspecting businesses and ensuring that companies abide by laws on price controls and other measures to guarantee the population’s access to goods and services.

Venezuela: Notes on the Monetary Measures

tamara — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:29:01 +0000

Norberto Bacher - Rebelion

No devaluation is socially neutral, because of the dragging effect, where what Marx said is verified: all traders are potential speculators.

Gauging Two of South America's Biggest Economies (+ Video)

chris — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:58:16 +0000

Al Jazeera - Inside Story Americas

What does a devalued currency in Venezuela and a supermarket price freeze in Argentina mean for the two nations?

Devaluation, Consumerism, and the Media

ewan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:57:29 +0000

Luigino Bracci Roa – El Espacio De Lubrio

In light of Venezuela’s recent currency devaluation, Venezuelan blogger and technology activist Luigino Bracci Roa argues that a change in attitudes towards consumption and technology is required.

World Bank and IMF Forecasts Follow Predictable Pattern for Haiti, Venezuela

tamara — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:24:32 +0000

Arthur Phillips and Stephan Lefebvre- CEPR

The World Bank has joined the “doom and gloom” chorus on Venezuela’s economy. And in Haiti, the Washington-based institution again appears overly optimistic.

The Guardian vs. the Conventional Wisdom on Venezuela

chris — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:53:41 +0000

Alex Main - CEPR

Just as it appeared that the current conventional wisdom on Venezuela had spread and hardened irreversibly throughout the major media, on Monday the UK daily The Guardian published an editorial entitled “Venezuela, defying predictions – again.” The piece deftly takes on a few commonly held views found in much of the media coverage of Venezuela.

Disinformation Still Clouds the US Debate on Chávez's Legacy in Venezuela

chris — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:19:02 +0000

Mark Weisbrot

Despite 14 years of catastrophist predictions for Venezuela, oil wealth has been successfully turned to social purposes.

The 2002 Oil Lockout: 10 Years Later

ewan — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:50:23 +0000

Yuleidys Hernandez Toledo – Ciudad CCS / CdO International

Building nearly a million homes, strengthening the national healthcare system, and creating productive sources of new employment are just a few of the things the national government could have done with the $20 billion dollars lost during the oil lockout launched by the Venezuelan opposition on December 2, 2002.

Conflicts and Conundrums: How the Venezuelan State Must Strike the Balance With its Indigenous People

chris — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:50:04 +0000

Stephanie Kennedy

What Venezuela currently faces is a dilemma also known and lived by many other neighbouring Latin countries, wherein the need for progress and development essential to guarantee national sovereignty and economic might is challenged by the equally important endeavour to safeguard the environment, natural resources and the indigenous populations that inhabit the same regions.

What the Statistics Tell Us about Venezuela in the Chavez Era

chris — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:07:11 +0000

Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com

In the lead up to Venezuela’s presidential election earlier this year, the picture painted in most private media was that of a country falling apart. But a brief look at the statistics offers a very different story, one that helps explain why the majority of the Venezuelan people keep re-electing a government that, according to the private media, is driving the country into the ground.

Venezuela Makes Progress towards Fairer Food System

ewan — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:29:39 +0000

Miriam Ross – Positive News

A combination of government support and community food growing initiatives is changing the face of the Venezuela’s food sustainability. Miriam Ross shares a taste of the results.

Nanotechnology Could Lighten Venezuela’s Oil Footprint

ewan — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:01:04 +0000

Humberto Márquez – IPS

Venezuela is studying the use of nanotechnology as a means of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the oil industry.

Socialist Transformation in an Oil-Dependent Economy: a Venezuelan Perspective

tamara — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:42:28 +0000

Pablo Gimenez and Revolutionary Communist Group

Pablo Gimenez is a Professor of political economy at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV) in Caracas. He spoke about the challenges posed by Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy and about the difficulties involved in trying to forge a new way of teaching political economy in the context of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Venezuela's Economic Recovery: Is It Sustainable? A CEPR Report

tamara — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 01:14:08 +0000

Mark Weisbrot and Jake Johnston- CEPR

Venezuela’s current growth is generally described as unsustainable, with various negative scenarios put forth, including spiraling debt, inflation, and balance of payments crises. However, these pessimistic forecasts have been far off the mark for most of the past decade. This paper looks at the available economic data to see if Venezuela’s economic recovery could be sustained, or even accelerated.

Revolutionary Democracy in the Economy? Venezuela’s Worker Control Movement and the Plan Socialist Guayana

ewan — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 00:54:56 +0000

Ewan Robertson - Venezuelanalysis.com

In this in-depth investigative analysis, Ewan Robertson evaluates the advances and setbacks of the worker control movement in Venezuela, and what Venezuela's experience in worker control means for the Bolivarian revolution and movements for radical social change worldwide.

Venezuela: The Revolution Continues

tamara — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:42:20 +0000

Peter Bohmer

Bohmer examines how the Bolivarian Revolution has progressed since his last visit to Venezuela in 2009, specifically looking at grassroots power, the PSUV, the role of the state, the economy, human rights, and the importance of this year's presidential elections.

Chávez's Economics Lesson for Europe

Rachael — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:26:50 +0000

Richard Gott - The Guardian

Some years ago, travelling on the presidential plane of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela with a French friend from Le Monde Diplomatique, we were asked what we thought was happening in Europe. Was there any chance of a move to the left?

Venezuela Increases Banks’ Obligatory Social Contributions, U.S. and Europe Does Not

Rachael — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:33:01 +0000

Rachael Boothroyd - Correo del Orinoco International

Whilst the rest of the world’s population continues to pay for the global financial crisis with their jobs, homes, education and health, and as bankers continue to award themselves millions of dollars in bonuses, the Venezuelan government has increased the percentage of net profits which banks must grant in credit to national social programs, demonstrating what a regulated and socially orientated banking system could look like for the rest of the world.

Venezuela: October Presidential Elections, Crucial for the Revolution

ewan — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:02:01 +0000

Jorge Martin and Patrick Larsen, In Defence of Marxism

Jorge Martin and Patrick Larsen argue that Venezuela’s October presidential elections are pivotal for the future of the Bolivarian Revolution, and that “unless the revolution is completed, with the overthrow of capitalism, then, at certain point, the whole process can be reversed”.

A Multiple Socialist Administration Model and Enterprises of Social Property (ESP) in Venezuela - Success, Difficulties, Prospects

ewan — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:34:42 +0000

Rafael Enciso Patiño - workerscontrol.net

Based on the analysis of the historic experience of what we call the Soviet mode of production – to differentiate it from the socialist mode of production theoretically formulated by Marx, Engels, and Lenin – we here analyze the experience of Venezuela, its process of recuperation of national sovereignty during the government of President Chávez since 1999 and the road traversed with the construction of the material and cultural bases of socialism since his reelection in December 2006 when the chief of state declared socialism as the path of development and the strategic objective to be obtained.

In Defence of Rory Carroll and Venezuela's Persecuted Elite

ewan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:01:14 +0000

Rachael Boothroyd - Venezuelanalysis.com

Even in a regulated economy such as Venezuela, financial traders and the commercial elite, the same bourgeoisie which Carroll continues to cite as a reliable source on all things Venezuelan at the expense of engaging with ordinary citizens, have found a way of speculating and exploiting the economic situation whilst giving the proverbial finger to the majority of Venezuelans and the national government.

New PDVSA Gives Precedence to Social Investment and Integration

tamara — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:53:25 +0000

YVKE / AVN / RNV

Before the Bolivarian Revolution, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) the Venezuelan state-run oil company, was completely cut off from society and its needs. The strategic guidelines of the country’s oil industry were set abroad to favour large multinationals such as Exxon and Shell, among others.

Praxis, Learning, and New Cooperativism in Venezuela: An Initial Look at Venezuela’s Socialist Production Units

ewan — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:05:45 +0000

Manuel Larrabure

In this paper, I address the question as to the extent to which the participatory and democratic processes taking place as part of Venezuela's new cooperative movement can be said to be a component for the building of social relations that challenge those of capitalism.

Does the Process of Change in Venezuela Resemble a “Permanent Revolution”?

tamara — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:18:21 +0000

Steve Ellner - Dialectical Anthropology

The process of ongoing radicalization over an extended period under the presidency of Hugo Chávez contrasts with revolutions elsewhere throughout history. This paper will focus on the dynamics of radicalization in Venezuela and will examine the factors that contributed to the process.

Demystifying Venezuela’s Inflation: The Opposition’s Red Herring

tamara — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:04:10 +0000

Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com

In local opposition and international mass media inflation is the buzzword, and because of it, Venezuela is clearly a mess, life is hopeless, and the government has got to go. Yet is inflation really the big evil it’s made out to be? How much does it impact on the lives of Venezuelans? How much worse is it, really, under Chavez, and what is the government trying to do about it and the food situation?