Abstract
One of the major areas of public enterprise in several Latin American countries is the defence industry. Argentina’s military industrial complex, Fabricaciones Militares, has an annual turnover of $2.2 billion, making it the largest firm in Argentina and one of the largest companies in Latin America.1 Depending on the source one uses, Brazil ranks as sixth or seventh among world arms producers and exporters.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
Several excellent recent accounts of Argentina’s military complex are available. See, for example, Carlos H. Waisman, ‘Argentina: Economic and Political Implications’, in James Katz (ed.), The Implications of Third World Military Industrialization, (Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books, 1986), pp. 93–102; Jacquelyn Porth, ‘Argentina’, in James E. Katz (ed.), Arms Production in Developing Countries (Lexington, Mass: D. C. Heath, 1984), pp. 53–72; and V. Millan, ‘Argentina: Schemes for Glory’, in Michael Brzoska and Thomas Ohlson (eds), Arms Production in the Third World (Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis: 1986), pp. 35–54.
Based on classification of Stephanie Neuman in ‘International Stratification and Third World Military Industries’, International Organization (Winter 1984), pp. 167–97.
Robert Looney and P. C. Frederiksen, ‘Profiles of Current Latin American Arms Producers’, International Organization (Summer 1986), pp. 745–52.
See, for example, Clive S. Gray, ‘Toward a Conceptual Framework for Macroeconomic Evaluation of Public Enterprise Performance in Mixed Economies’, in Robert H. Floyd, Clive Gray and R. P. Short (eds) Public Enterprise in Mixed Economies: Some Macroeconomic Aspects (Washington: International Monetary Fund, 1984), pp. 35–109.
For an excellent review of the literature see: Malcolm Gillis, ‘The Role of State Enterprises in Economic Development’, Social Research (Summer, 1980), pp. 248–89.
Leroy P. Jones and Edward Mason, ‘The Role of Economic Factors in Determining the Size Structure of the Public Enterprise Sector in Mixed Economy LDCs’, in L. Jones et al., Public Enterprise in Less Developed Countries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 17–66.
Ibid., p. 19.
A notable exception is the discussion contained in John Sheahan, ‘Differences in the Roles and Consequences of Public Enterprises in Developing Countries’, Research Memorandum Series RM-80, The Center for Development Economics, Williams College (May, 1981).
The World Bank, Argentina: Economic Memorandum, Volume II, Statistical Appendix (Washington: IBRD, 1985).
A possibility suggested in David Whynes, The Economics of Third World Military Expenditure (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1979), ch. 2.
The World Bank, Argentina: Economic Memorandum, Volume I, The Main Report (Washington, D.C.: IBRD, 1985) p. 51.
Based on V. Millan, ‘Schemes for Glory’, pp. 36–7.
Ibid., p. 37.
World Bank, Argentina: Economic Memorandum, pp. 49–51.
Ibid.
Ibid.
See, for example, the case studies in W. Baumol (ed.), Public and Private Enterprise in a Mixed Economy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980).
Andrew H. Gantt and Guiseppe Dutto, ‘Financial Performance of Government-Owned Corporations in Less Developed Countries’, International Monetary Fund, Staff Papers (1968), pp. 102–42.
Cf. John Sheahan, ‘Differences in the Roles and Consequences of Public Enterprises in Developing Countries’, Research Memorandum RM-80, The Center for Development Economics, Williams College, (May, 1981), p. 11.
Charles R. Frank, ‘Public and Private Enterprise in Africa’, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Development Research Project, Discussion Paper No. 4 (March, 1986).
Leroy P. Jones and II Sa Kung, Government, Business and Entrepreneurship in Economic Development: The Korean Case (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard East Asian Monographs, 91, 1980).
See the discussion in Sheahan, ‘Rules and Consequences of Public Enterprise’.
Gantt and Dutto, ‘Financial Performance of Government-Owned Corporations’.
Cf. Werner Baer, Isaac Kerstenetzky and Annibal Villela, ‘The Changing Role of the State in the Brazilian Economy’, World Development (November 1973), pp. 23–34; Jose R. Mendonca de Barros and Douglas H. Graham, ‘The Brazilian Miracle Revisited: Private and Public Sector Initiative in a Market Economy’, Latin American Research Review (1973), pp. 5–38; and Sylvia Ann Hewlett, The Cruel Dilemas of Development: Twentieth Century Brazil (New York: Basic Books, 1980) pp. 110–22.
Sheahan, ‘Roles and Consequences of Public Enterprise’.
H. Boneo, ‘Public Enterprise in Mixed Economy LDCs’, Second Boston Area Public Enterprise Group Conference (April 1980).
Sheahan, ‘Roles and Consequences of Public Enterprise’, p. 12.
Jones and Mason, ‘The Role of Economic Factors’.
See, for example, R. Looney and P. C. Frederiksen, ‘Consequence of Military and Civilian Rule in Argentina: An Analysis of Central Government Budgetary tradeoffs 1961–81’, Comparative Political Studies (1986); R. Looney, ‘Impact of Increased External Debt Servicing on Government Budgetary Priorities in Argentina’, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences (1986); and R. Looney and P. C. Frederiksen, ‘The Future Demand for Military Expenditures in Argentina’, Arms Control (1986).
The classic work is Guillermo O’Donnell, Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Studies in South America Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973). More recent analysis is given in David Collier et al., The New Authoritarianism in Latin America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979); and Jonathan Hartlyn and Samuel A. Morley, ‘Bureaucratic Authoritarian Regimes in Comparative Perspective’, in J. Hartlyn and S. Morley (eds), Latin American Political Economy (Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1986), pp. 38–53.
Gordon Richards, The Rise and Decline of Military Authoritarianism in Latin America: The Role of Stabilization Policy’, SAIS Review (Summer/Fall 1985), pp. 155–6.
Ibid.
See, for example, G. O’Donnell, ‘Reflections on the Patterns of Change in the Bureaucratic Authoritarian State’, Latin American Research Review (1978), pp. 5–38.
J. Hartlyn and S. Morley, ‘Political Regimes and Economic Performance in Latin America’, in Hartlyn and Morley, Latin American Political Economy, pp. 15–37.
Richards, ‘The Rise and Decline of Military Authoritarianism’.
Ibid., pp. 157–8.
David Felix, ‘On Financial Blowups and Authoritarian Regimes in Latin America’, in Hartlyn and Morley, Latin American Political Economy, pp. 85–126.
An excellent critical review of the dependency literature is given in Richard Bath and Dilmus D. James, ‘Dependency Analysis of Latin America: Some Criticisms, Some Suggestions’, Latin American Research Review (1976), pp. 3–56.
Richards, ‘The Rise and Decline of Military Authoritarianism’, p. 158.
O’Donnell, Latin American Research Review, op. cit.
M. Wallerstein, The Collapse of Democracy in Brazil. Its Economic Determinants’, Latin American Research Review (1980), pp. 3–41.
Richards, The Rise and Decline of Military Authoritarianism’, p. 160.
For an excellent review of the empirical research, cf., Merilee S. Grindle and Robert L. West, ‘Civilian Military Relations and Budgetary Politics in Latin America’, (mimeo), Harvard Institute for International Development (January, 1986).
Richards. ‘The Rise and Decline of Military Authoritarianism’, pp. 161–2.
World Bank, Argentina: Economic Memorandum, vol. 2, Statistical Appendix (Washington, 1985).
The statistical significance of the distributed lags in the regression equations indicates that the economic adjustments of public enterprises in Argentina are spread out over time in a geometrically declining fashion. Cf. Robert Pindyck and Daniel Rubinfeld, Econometric Models and Econometric Forecasts (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976) for a description and interpretation of this method of estimation. The equations are also estimated with a Cochrane-Orcutt estimation procedure to improve specification.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1988 Robert E. Looney
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Looney, R.E. (1988). Political Change and Public Enterprise Performance: Argentina as a Case-Study. In: Third-World Military Expenditure and Arms Production. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09658-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09658-9_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09660-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09658-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)