Scarcity was much cooler under Chávez
During the last presidential campaign, I took to highlighting the differences between a Chavez-led race and a Chávez –less one. For the sake of consistency, indulge me while...
Economy
The victim of my rant of the day: the Associated Press
Clever use of puns aside (“Venezuela hopes to wipe out toilet paper shortage by importing 50m rolls,” chuckle chuckle), I have a small beef to raise about this...
Micro-managing the downfall
Economists sometimes use the term “bounded rationality” to explain the impossibility managers have in understanding reality in all its complexity. Basically, bounded rationality says that managers and economic...
Gas prices and car ownership
An interesting post about Venezuelan gasoline consumption from UC Berkeley Professor of Economics Lucas Davis. He says that Venezuelans don’t own more cars per capita than comparable countries...
Lorenzo Mendoza, prophet of privatization
Lorenzo Mendoza, CEO of Venezuela’s largest private company (Polar), gave a searing press conference yesterday. In it, Mendoza thoroughly debunked the myth that people can’t find corn flour...
A whole LOTTTa trouble
A year ago, Hugo Chávez wrote a little big law that has made it very difficult for companies to do business in Venezuela. Written from his sick bed,...
It's the economy, Nicolás
Inflation, scarcity, crime, and those damn numbers on people’s arms. I shoot off over at the Transitions blog. My money quote: Taming inflation would require the government to...
Food sovereignty: Still a mere formality
The government has raised the official subsidy paid to domestic rice producers – from 2,50 Bolivars per Kilo to 3,60 Bs. In spite of this, our producers shouldn’t feel...
"There's a storm a-comin'..."
That’s the message from Tom O’Donnell, quoting various sources, including Saudi oil minister al-Naimi. The gist: with increased oil production all over the world, with North Dakota becoming...
Not the brightest bulb
Electricity Minister Jesse Chacón said today that the government would raise electricity rates so that people who use too much electricity begin to pay more. This is a terrible...
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