Author Archive

Luis Schiumerini

Luis Schiumerini is a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a B.A. in Political Science from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Luis studies the operation of democratic representation in developing countries, with a focus on Latin America. He is working on a book manuscript that investigates why incumbency is an advantage in some Latin American countries but not in anothers. In other ongoing projects he studies the connection between repression and protests, and the origins of preferences for redistribution. Luis has also served as electoral analyst for the Office of Electoral Affairs of the City of Buenos Aires, and as consultant for CIPPEC on incumbency advantage in the Argentine Provinces.

/ /
The election of Mauricio Macri, leader of the Cambiemos (“Let’s Change”) coalition, to the presidency should not be seen as yet another shift in Argentina’s policy pendulum. Over the past decade the Nestor and Cristina Kirchner administrations pursued an ambitious program of state intervention, which included expansive social policies, subsidies for consumers of public utilities, and the nationalization of former state-owned oil company and the pensions system. These policies continue to enjoy wide support. Yet there is also a consensus that the macroeconomic imbalances inherited from Kirchnerismo need to be addressed. Macri’s mandate is therefore not one for state retrenchment, but rather for better management of state intervention. Can his administration pull it off? Economic Challenges Macri inherits a challenging economic …