Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:47:19.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Logic of Congressional Delegation: Explaining Argentine Economic Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Kent Eaton
Kent Eaton*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This study evaluates the role played by the legislature in one of Argentina's most important economic reforms of recent decades: the reform of tax incentives for regional development. As implemented by the last military government, this sytem of tax incentives provoked sharp distributive conflicts among provinces. Although a majority of legislators favored reform after the return to democracy in 1983, interprovincial conflicts created bargaining problems that prevented the passage of reform legislation through regular channels. Pro-reform legislators decided instead to delegate reform authority to President Raúl Alfonsín because he shared their interest in containing the fiscal cost of tax incentives. Subsequent uses of this delegated authority by two presidents promoted the interests of the enacting coalition that supported delegation. These findings support the usefulness of delegation models when carefully applied to Latin America and challenge theories that neglect the different ways that legislators shape economic reform.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , 2001 , pp. 97 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

The field research for this article was carried out in Argentina from January to August 1996 under fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I am grateful to John Carey, Mark Jones, Ana Seleny, Deborah Yashar, and the members of the Junior Faculty Workshop at Princeton University as well as to the anonymous LARR reviewers for their comments on previous drafts.

References

Aguilar Caravia, Oscar 1987 “La DGI ante la promoción industrial.” Impuestos, no. 55a:171–75.Google Scholar
Amis, Barry 1995 “Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures, and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting in the Brazilian Congress.” Journal of Politics 57, no. 2 (May):324–43.Google Scholar
Artana, Daniel, Duarte, Maria, and Soto, Luis 1986 “Promoción industrial: Comentarios v propuestas.” jornadas de Finanzas Públicas 19:12.1–12.54.Google Scholar
Bertazza, Humberto 1990 “Implicancias tributarias del Decreto 435/90.” Revista Doctrina Tributaria 9, no. 120 (Apr.):705–13.Google Scholar
Bidart Campos, German 1993 “El federalismo argentino desde 1930 hasta la actualidad.” In Federalismos latinoamericanos: México, Brasil, Argentina, edited by Carmagnani, Marcello, 363–94. Mexico City: Colegio de México.Google Scholar
Carey, John 1998 Term Limits and Legislative Representation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carey, John, and Shugart, Matthew, EDS. 1998 Executive Decree Authority. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coria, Juan Jorge 1993 “Despromocionar lo promocionado.” Revista de Doctrina, Jurisprudencia y Legislación 51-A:823–25 (published in Buenos Aires).Google Scholar
Corrales, Javier 1997 “Why Argentines Followed Cavallo: A Technopol between Democracy and Economic Reform.” In Technopols: Freeing Markets and Politics in Latin America in the 1990s, edited by DomÍNguez, Jorge, 49–93. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian 2000 Democratic and Institutional Design. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Dalla Via, Alberto 1993 “Promoción industrial en la Argentina: Un largo y sinuoso camino.” Derecho Económico 111, no. 24: 505–7.Google Scholar
Eaton, Kent n.d. “Fiscal Policy Making in the Argentine Congress.” In MORGENSTERN AND NACIF n.d.Google Scholar
Ferreira Rubio, Delia, and Goretti, Matteo 1998 “When the President Governs Alone: The Decretazo in Argentina, 1989–1993.” In CAREY AND SHUGART 1998, 33–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrucci, Ricardo J. 1986 La promoción industrial en Argentina. Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Cece, Fundacion 1998 Federalismo fiscal en Argentina. Buenos Aires: Fundación CECE.Google Scholar
Grindle, Merilee, and Thomas, John 1991 Public Choices and Policy Change. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Kaufman, Robert, EDS. 1992 The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Webb, Steven 1994 “Introduction.” In Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization, and Economic Adjustment, edited by Haggard, Stephan and Webb, Steven, 16–20. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lascano, Marcelo Ramon 1981 Política económica actual: Cuestiones críticas. Buenos Aires: Tilton.Google Scholar
Lopez Murphy, Ricardo, Kippes, Gustavo, and Lew, Nestor 1981 “Regímenes de promoción en la Argentina.” Jornadas de Finanzas Públicas 14:9.1–9.46.Google Scholar
Macon, Jorge 1985 Las finanzas públicas argentinas, 1950–1980. Buenos Aires: Macchi.Google Scholar
Molinelli, Guillermo 1995 “President-Congress Relations in Argentina, 1983–1985.” Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, 28–30 Sept., Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Morgenstern, Scott, and Nacif, Benito, EDS. n.d. Legislative Politics in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Nelson, Joan, ed. 1989 Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction.Google Scholar
Nelson, Joan, ed. 1990 Economic Crisis and Policy Choice. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
NuÑEz, Eduardo Jose 1989 “Comentario sobre ciertos aspectos tributarios de la reciente Ley de Emergencia Económica.” Impuestos, no. 60 (Dec.):971–98.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo 1994 “Delegative Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 5, no. 1 (Jan.):55–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pirez, Pedro 1986 Coparticipación federal y descentralización del estado. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina.Google Scholar
Riz, Liliana De 1996 “Argentina: Democracy in Turmoil.” In Constructing Democratic Governance: South America in the 1990s, edited by DomÍNguez, Jorge and Lowenthal, Abraham, 147–65. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Sanchez Ugarte, Fernando, and Marti, Antonio Zabalza 1986 “Argentina: Incentivos fiscales para el fomento del desarrollo.” In-house report, Departamento de Finanzas Públicas, Fondo Monetario Internacional, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Siavelis, Peter 2000 The President and Congress in Postauthoritarian Chile. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, William, AcuÑA, Carlos, and Gamarra, Eduardo, EDS. 1994 Latin American Political Economy in the Age of Neoliberal Reform. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction.Google Scholar
Stallings, Barbara 1992 “International Influence on Economic Policy: Debt, Stabilization, and Structural Reform.” In HAGGARD AND KAUFMAN 1992, 41–88.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John 1992 “The Heart of the Matter? Public Enterprise and the Adjustment Process.” In HAGGARD AND KAUFMAN 1992, 182–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar