Twilights and rebirths of National Development Banks in Latin America: Understanding factors that could have affected different trajectories in Argentina and Brazil

Abstract

National Development Banks (NDB) could be pictured as engines pushing backward economies through the developmental ladder's rungs. After being key protagonists of industrial policy after Second World War, most NDBs were dismantled during the 1980s and 90 s. Notable exceptions to this trend exist, however. The goal of this study is thus to understand the political economy issues; Institutional Capacity International Bargaining Power and Domestic Political Coalitions; that explain those trajectories, by taking the cases of Argentina (BANADE) and Brazil (BNDES). When analyzing these three dimensions of political economy the paper concludes that the main difference between BANADE and BNDES' trajectories seems to stem from the diverse Domestic Political Coalitions crafted by Argentina and Brazil, in each historical period. Understanding the underlying conditions to create a cohesive and solid NDB is fundamental to reassess their roles in the XXI century industrial policy.