Colombia during the Crisis of the 1980s

Abstract

The 1980s debt crisis brought havoc to most Latin American economies, with some countries reducing their GDP by more than 10% in a year. A remarkable exception was Colombia, where the economic crisis was very mild. The Colombian GDP did not fall in any year, there was no public debt default or hyperinflation, and the total cost of bank bailouts was lower than 6% of GDP. Nevertheless, the crisis of the 1980s in Colombia is a case study on the social costs of conflicts of interest and tunneling in the banking sector.

Note: This is a draft chapter/article. The final version will be available in Encyclopedia of Financial Crises edited by Sara Hsu, forthcoming 2023, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher, and is for private use only.

Keywords: Debt Crisis, Colombia, Banking Crisis, Financial Crisis, Banking

JEL Classification: G21, N16, N26