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From Financial Repression to External Distress: The Case of Venezuela

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen M. Reinhart
  • Miguel Angel Santos
Abstract
Recent work has supported that there is a connection between the level of domestic debt level and sovereign default on external debt. We examine the potential linkages in a case study of Venezuela from 1984 to 2013. This unique example encompasses multiple financial crises, cycles of liberalization and policy reversals, and alternative exchange rate arrangements. This experience reveals a nexus among domestic debt, financial repression, and external vulnerability. Unlike foreign currency-denominated debt, debt in domestic currency may be reduced through financial repression, a tax on bondholders and savers producing negative real interest rates. Using a variety of methodologies, we estimate the magnitude of the tax from financial repression. On average, this financial repression tax (as a share of GDP) is similar to those of OECD economies, in spite of the much higher domestic debt-to-GDP ratios in the latter. However, the financial repression “tax rate” is significantly higher in years of exchange controls and legislated interest rate ceilings. In line with earlier literature on capital controls, our comprehensive measures of capital flight document a link between domestic disequilibrium and a weakening of the net foreign asset position via private capital flight. We suggest these findings are not unique to the Venezuelan case.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen M. Reinhart & Miguel Angel Santos, 2015. "From Financial Repression to External Distress: The Case of Venezuela," NBER Working Papers 21333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21333
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni B. Pittaluga & Elena Seghezza & Pierluigi Morelli, 2021. "The political economy of hyperinflation in Venezuela," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 337-350, March.
    2. Jorge Jraissati & Keith Jakee, 2022. "Venezuela's collapse: Exogenous shock or institutional design?," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 344-360, June.
    3. Elissa Braunstein, 2018. "Financial crises among emerging and developing economies in the modern era: A brief history and some stylized themes," Chapters, in: Gerald A. Epstein (ed.), The Political Economy of International Finance in an Age of Inequality, chapter 2, pages 14-29, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
    • N26 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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