The political economy of mining in Bolivia during the government of the Movement Towards Socialism (2006–2015)

Abstract

This paper presents a general assessment, in economic terms, of the main trends of Bolivia’s mining industry during the Movement Towards Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) government over the past decade from three particular angles. First, it considers the debate about the end of neoliberal economic policies in the mining sector; secondly, it analyses the evolution of profits and wages during this period; and thirdly, it reviews the capture of rent in the context of the international division of labor. This is a primary-source research paper that draws from classical political economy and dependency theory. I argue that the MAS government’s economic policies in the sector are fundamentally a continuation of the neoliberal economic model. During the last decade, the actual beneficiaries of the cycle of spectacular international metal prices were transnational corporations operating in the country, whilst wages in the sector were depressed and the state rent remained marginal.