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9781108841795

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'Because of their sensitivity to international commodity prices and capital flows, Latin American economies undergo substantial volatility. Hence, those countries provide an excellent test of whether elections work as intended in modern democratic theory. Do the voters understand when their incumbents are not to blame for the economic downturns? Or do they punish anyway? This book provides new and powerful evidence that the voters just kick the dog when times are hard, even when the truth is patiently explained to them. The result is a powerful challenge to contemporary orthodoxies about the accountability of democratic governments.' Christopher H. Achen, Princeton University, New Jersey 'Over the years, an initial focus on dependency theory among specialists in Latin American politics gave way to a turn toward institutions and domestic agency. Daniela Campello and Cesar Zucco had the insight to return to the international-domestic linkage: they found it not just operational but dominant, with its causal direction unchanged. This masterful book is as politically distressing as it is intellectually fascinating.' Andres Malamud, University of Lisbon 'The Volatility Curse is a path-breaking book illuminating the economic conditions that reduce governments' incentives for political accountability in Latin America but with lessons for the rest of the developing world. In a nutshell, Campello and Zucco provide abundant evidence of the effect of exogenous shocks on electoral support and presidential popularity and the perverse incentives this generates to weaken the accountability of democratic governments. The book is a must-read for scholars of international and comparative political economy, as well as for those interested in understanding democracy in Latin America and other developing countries.' Maria Victoria Murillo, Columbia University, New York 'Electoral accountability for the economy in the developing world is conditional on exogenously-driven volatility. This creative argument by Campello and Zucco, backed by a wealth of empirical data, sheds new light on the limits to effective democratic representation in emerging economies.' Timothy J. Power, University of Oxford 'Like the best books, The Volatility Curse offers new insight into the political economy of elections while also raising novel questions for future work. Its findings speak most directly to those interested in the political economy of Latin America ...' Noam Lupu, Perspectives on Politics

'Because of their sensitivity to international commodity prices and capital flows, Latin American economies undergo substantial volatility. Hence, those countries provide an excellent test of whether elections work as intended in modern democratic theory. Do the voters understand when their incumbents are not to blame for the economic downturns? Or do they punish anyway? This book provides new and powerful evidence that the voters just kick the dog when times are hard, even when the truth is patiently explained to them. The result is a powerful challenge to contemporary orthodoxies about the accountability of democratic governments.' Christopher H. Achen, Princeton University, New Jersey 'Over the years, an initial focus on dependency theory among specialists in Latin American politics gave way to a turn toward institutions and domestic agency. Daniela Campello and Cesar Zucco had the insight to return to the international-domestic linkage: they found it not just operational but dominant, with its causal direction unchanged. This masterful book is as politically distressing as it is intellectually fascinating.' Andres Malamud, University of Lisbon 'The Volatility Curse is a path-breaking book illuminating the economic conditions that reduce governments' incentives for political accountability in Latin America but with lessons for the rest of the developing world. In a nutshell, Campello and Zucco provide abundant evidence of the effect of exogenous shocks on electoral support and presidential popularity and the perverse incentives this generates to weaken the accountability of democratic governments. The book is a must-read for scholars of international and comparative political economy, as well as for those interested in understanding democracy in Latin America and other developing countries.' Maria Victoria Murillo, Columbia University, New York 'Electoral accountability for the economy in the developing world is conditional on exogenously-driven volatility. This creative argument by Campello and Zucco, backed by a wealth of empirical data, sheds new light on the limits to effective democratic representation in emerging economies.' Timothy J. Power, University of Oxford

Author Information

Daniela Campello is Associate Professor of Politics at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Her research lies on the frontier of comparative and international political economy, with a focus on the consequences of globalization to domestic politics in emerging economies. She is the author of The Politics of Market Discipline in Latin America (2015), and her work also appears in top political science journals. Daniela was an Oxford-CAF Visiting Fellow of International Economics at the University of Oxford and was previously an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, New Jersey. Cesar Zucco is Associate Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Fundação Getúlio Vargas. He is co-author of Partisans, Antipartisans, and Nonpartisans (2018) and has published widely in leading political science journals. He studies political behavior, institutions, and ideology in Brazil and in Latin America. He has held visiting appointments at Princeton University, New Jersey, Yale University, Connecticut, and the University of Oxford, and was previously Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

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