Perú: Lecciones de la recesión de 2008-2009

The hypothesis of the paper is that the macroeconomic policies implemented in Peru during the recessions of 1998-2000 and 2008-2009 were substantially different. This explains why economic performance in the second was much better than in the first. In monetary policy, both the exchange rate of the dollar as the interest rate in soles rose during the recession of 1998-2000, while the exchange rate of the dollar remained steady and the interest rate down during the recession 2008-2009. On fiscal policy, government spending was cut during the recession of 1998-2000, except during the campaign for re-reelection, while public spending increased during the recession of 2008-2009, except at the beginning of the crisis . In conclusion, in 2008-2009 for the first time Keynesian policies were applied in Peru during a recession, which for over half a century ago is systematically done in the central countries. A crucial point is that these different macroeconomic policies were possible to implement because in 2008 the central bank had accumulated enough foreign exchange reserves, while in 1998, it had not