Estado y Regímenes Extractivos en América Latina

In what degree Latin American states differ in the ways they manage the exploitation of natural resources? What are the main drivers of this difference? How alternative natural resources governance regimes affect inequality? The purpose of this presentation is to explore the differences between Latin American countries in terms of the relevance and the institutional arrangements related to natural resources governance in three respects: (a) how countries differ in terms of their reliance on natural resources; (b) how these differences can be systematized as alternative natural resources governance regimes; and (c) what could be the association between a particular regime and inequality. In order to reach this objective, eight countries (and their subnational levels) were selected: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The results suggest that Latin American countries employ four alternative strategies to handle natural resources, with ambivalent impacts on inequality.