Browsing by Author "Castiglioni, Rossana"
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- ItemCabinet determinants of structural reforms in Latin America, 1985-2000(WILEY, 2008) Altman, David; Castiglioni, RossanaLittle research has been devoted to the analysis of how different characteristics of the executives affect structural reforms. This article analyzes the impact of cabinet fragmentation and the presidential ideological position on the scope of structural reforms in nine Latin American presidential democracies of the postauthoritarian period. In so doing, it treats cabinets as conglomerates of actors that are accountable both to the president and to their parties, with nonpartisan ministers being only accountable to the president. It shows that the higher the percentage of nonpartisan ministers, the lesser the costs associated with bargaining a reform within the executive. When presidents build governing coalitions, they limit their capacity of acting unilaterally. However, they are better able to advance their structural reform proposals than single-party governments are. Data on cabinet composition were collected by the authors and data on the dependent variable structural reform comes from Lora (2001).
- ItemDemocratic Quality and Human Development in Latin America: 1972-2001(WILFRID LAURIER UNIV PRESS, 2009) Altman, David; Castiglioni, RossanaThis paper analyzes the connection between democracy and human development. In so doing, it examines two main questions: Are democracies better than non-democracies in achieving human development? Among democracies, is there a direct relationship between the actualization of civil and political rights and human development? In answering these questions, we offer a cross-national study of 18 Latin American countries front 1972 to 2001. We use fixed effect models for analyzing out, cross-country, pooled time-series data. The evidence suggests not only that democracies are better than nondemocracies in fostering human development (controlling for wealth), but also that differences in degree of democracy have a significant impact on human development in terms of infant mortality and life expectancy.
- ItemDeterminants of Equitable Social Policy in Latin America (1990-2013)(Cambridge University Press, 2020) Altman, David; Castiglioni, RossanaThe fact that equitable social policy expanded drastically in Latin America during the left turn and during a time of prosperity does not necessarily mean that the ideological color of governing parties and economic growth are the engines behind changes in social policy, as is usually claimed by part of the literature. Using panel data from Latin American countries for 1990-2013, this paper offers an alternative explanation, derived from previous qualitative research, that the level of political competition, the strength of civil society, and wealth are the key factors behind the expansion of equitable social policy. Once these explanations are included in our models, the ideological leaning of governments and economic growth lose statistical significance. Thus, this paper challenges dominant approaches that consider social policy change in Latin America a consequence of the ideological leaning of the government and economic growth.
- ItemGabinetes Ministeriales y Reformas Estructurales en América Latina, 1985-2000(2009) Altman Olin, David; Castiglioni, Rossana