A Critique to the Political Economy of “XXI Century Socialism”: private sector takeover of oil revenue, import policy and capital outflow

Abstract

The Bolivarian project, which arrived in the political scene after the 1998 presidential election, has been analyzed many times based on the social achievements provoked by high oil prices, which, in turn, brought it high levels of revenue, representing close to 95 per cent of the total exports of Venezuela in 2012. The government then spent a lot of money, and helped low-income populations through social programs (missions, among others). A strong opposition coming out of the business sector radicalized the Bolivarian movement to the point that, in 2005, the government declared itself a socialist regime. By using government indicators, this work will examine critically some fundamental aspects of the Venezuelan economy during the Bolivarian period. Because this country’s major source of income comes from oil, this paper will emphasize its analysis on the effective distribution of revenue inflow.