Abstract, Financialization, Institutional Reform, and Structural Change in the Bolivian Boom

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Financialization, Institutional Reform, and Structural Change in the Bolivian Boom 

by Alfredo Macías Vázquez and Jorge García-Arias

Since nationalizing its hydrocarbon industry, Bolivia has articulated an ambitious strategy to promote structural change in its economy. Despite positive trends in macroeconomic indicators, the increase in fiscal revenues derived from the export of raw materials has not translated into structural transformation. Although the Bolivian government has broken with classical extractivism, nationalization and state intervention have not been sufficient to produce changes. The institutional control imposed on hydrocarbon revenue by financialization inhibits structural change and threatens the long-term sustainability of recent improvements in social indicators.

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Political Report # 1058 Fracking Expands Under the Radar on Mexican Lands By Emilio Godoy, Inter Press Service

A Pemex gas distribution terminal. Shale gas will account for an estimated 45 percent of Mexico's natural gas output by 2026. (Photo: Pemex)

Mexico City - "People don't know what 'fracking' is and there is little concern about the issue because it's not visible yet," said Gabino Vicente, a delegate of one of the municipalities in southern Mexico where exploration for unconventional gas is forging ahead. Vicente is a local representative of the community of Santa Úrsula in the municipality of San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, some 450 km south of Mexico City in the state of Oaxaca, where - he told IPS - "fracking is sort of a hidden issue; there's a great lack of information about it." Tuxtepec, population 155,000, and another Oaxaca municipality, Loma Bonita, form part of the project Papaloapan B with seven municipalities in the neighbouring state of Veracruz. The shale gas and oil exploration project was launched by Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, in 2011. Papaloapan B, backed by the governmental National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), covers 12,805 square kilometres and is seeking to tap into shale gas reserves estimated at between 166 and 379 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The project will involve 24 geological studies and the exploratory drilling of 120 wells, for a total investment of 680 million dollars.