Unintended Consequences: Lessons From Sanctions in Venezuela
Sanctions are a tool to achieve political outcomes, not an end in themselves. Make sure to subscribe to Frank's Substack, it's pretty awesome
Frank is a public policy and development researcher in Cambridge, MA.
Sanctions are a tool to achieve political outcomes, not an end in themselves. Make sure to subscribe to Frank's Substack, it's pretty awesome
When Chávez took office in 1999, one dollar was worth 5.6 bolivars. 19 years later, the amount of zeros is so long, it’s confusing. Today, regrettably, we reach the one billion later benchmark.
Venezuelan inflation blew past 50% a month, the hyperinflationary threshold.
Add another zero to the raging fire of Venezuela’s macroeconomic cataclysm.
The dollar doubles to 31,000 in less than two months – textbook late Voodoo Populism.
The bolivar lost two thirds of it's value on the black market in 77 days. We unpack the currency's collapse.
We thought we’d plumbed the depths of awful government financing deals. But BCV's deal with Goldman Sachs is a new, appalling low.
The price of a dollar is now one million percent higher in bolivars than the day Hugo Chávez was sworn in! Hay Patria!
Don't be fooled by talk of 'repo' deals, Venezuela is pawning assets in international credit markets for pennies on the dollar on genuinely horrendous terms.
Nothing you learn in Business School will prepare you for interpreting the whirlwind of bad news PDVSA has been facing this year.
We’ve been able to hang on for 22 years in one of the craziest media landscapes in the world. We’ve seen different media outlets in Venezuela (and abroad) closing shop, something we’re looking to avoid at all costs. Your collaboration goes a long way in helping us weather the storm.
Donate