{"title":"Rules, institutions and policy capacity: A comparative analysis of lithium-based development in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103761","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We carry out a comparative institutional analysis of lithium development in neighboring Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which together hold over 50 % of world lithium reserves. The comparison reveals that lithium institutional development is subject to long-term processes and contingent junctures within domestic political economies. The potential pivotal role of Chile's national development corporation, CORFO, illustrates the transformative significance of the slogan “institutions matter”: though rules and their enforcement are crucial, effective governance hinges primarily on fostering an institutional ecosystem conducive to mission agreement and translation. Engaging with the mission economy perspective, we argue that “good institutions” entail dynamic policy capacities that regulate and innovate economic development for the public good. Studying how, when and what types of policy capacities develop in the Lithium Triangle countries sheds light on the “institutions matter” inquiry of the political economy of development.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003529","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We carry out a comparative institutional analysis of lithium development in neighboring Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which together hold over 50 % of world lithium reserves. The comparison reveals that lithium institutional development is subject to long-term processes and contingent junctures within domestic political economies. The potential pivotal role of Chile's national development corporation, CORFO, illustrates the transformative significance of the slogan “institutions matter”: though rules and their enforcement are crucial, effective governance hinges primarily on fostering an institutional ecosystem conducive to mission agreement and translation. Engaging with the mission economy perspective, we argue that “good institutions” entail dynamic policy capacities that regulate and innovate economic development for the public good. Studying how, when and what types of policy capacities develop in the Lithium Triangle countries sheds light on the “institutions matter” inquiry of the political economy of development.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.