Glossary -- Bolivia
- A self-governing and land-owning peasant community in
Bolivia's highlands. May refer to either a village, a kinship
group, or a clan-like organization, usually based on collective
agriculture. Although a pre-Columbian term, ayllu has
been used as a synonym for contemporary highland peasant
- Bolivia's official unit of currency. Replaced the peso on
January 1, 1987. In 1988 the exchange rate was B2.3=US$1.
Readoption of the boliviano (Bolivia's currency prior to January
1963) in January 1987 redressed the damage done to the currency
- Natives of the lowlands who often look with disdain on
- A term that has a variety of definitions and social
implications. During colonial times was equivalent to mestizo but
has evolved to include persons of mixed or pure Indian ancestry
who are trying to move up the social and economic ladder.
Cholos speak Spanish in addition to an Indian tongue.
- Literally, copaternity. A system of ritual coparenthood that
links parents, children, and godparents in a close social or
- The official, usually a white or cholo, in
postindependence Bolivia charged with administering local Indian
- A system whereby rights over Indian labor and tribute were
granted to individual colonists (encomenderos) in return
for assuming the responsibility of supervision and religious
education of the Indians.
- fiscal year (FY)
- Calendar year.
- gross domestic product (GDP)
- A measure of the total value of goods and services produced
by the domestic economy during a given period, usually one year.
Obtained by adding the value contributed by each sector of the
economy in the form of profits, compensation to employees, and
depreciation (consumption of capital). The income arising from
investments and possessions owned abroad is not included, hence
the use of the word domestic to distinguish GDP from GNP
- gross national product (GDP)
- Total market value of all final goods and services produced
by an economy during a year. Obtained by adding GDP
(q.v.) and the income received from abroad by residents
less payments remitted abroad to nonresidents.
- An economic development strategy that emphasizes the growth
of domestic industries, often by import protection using tariff
and nontariff measures. Proponents favor the export of industrial
goods over primary products.
- informal sector
- Unofficial sector of underground economic activity. In
Bolivia, consisted principally of coca cultivation, cocaine
trafficking, and contraband, employing two-thirds of the work
- International Monetary Fund
- Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in
1945, the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United
Nations that takes responsibility for stabilizing international
exchange rates and payments. The main business of the IMF is the
provision of loans to its members when they experience balance of
payments difficulties. These loans often carry conditions that
require substantial internal economic adjustments by the
- Term for native residents of the Altiplano, including the
city of La Paz, used somewhat disdainfully by native lowlanders,
called Cambas (q.v.).
- Literally, maleness. Complex of beliefs and attitudes
defining the concept of masculinity.
- Very small landholdings, legally held, allowing only a bare
- A compulsory labor system implemented by the Spaniards to
work the mines. Required that all able-bodied Indian men present
themselves periodically for short periods of paid work in the
mines. Was abused by inhumane treatment of the conscripts,
arbitrary extensions of the service period, and depletion of
individual communities of their adult males.
- Paris Club
- A Paris-based organization that represents commercial banks
in the rescheduling of national debts.
- Originally, a company store; later, a state-subsidized
merchandise store selling goods at stable prices to miners and
other labor groups.
- A derogatory term for the national oligarchy whose basis of
power was strongly shaken by the 1952 Revolution. Designated in
particular the supportive group of lawyers and politicians who
acted as administrators for the ruling elite.
- state capitalism
- A development model or strategy centered on the state, which
directly controls and manages, through government agencies and
public mixed corporations, most of the basic industry and
infrastructure and uses incentives or disincentives to guide
growth in the private sector in accordance with development
- terms of trade
- Number of units that must be given up for one unit of goods
by each party, e.g., nation, to a transaction. The terms of trade
are said to move in favor of the party that gives up fewer units
of goods than it did previously for one unit of goods received,
and against the party that gives up more units of goods for one
unit of goods received. In international economics, the concept
of "terms of trade" plays an important role in evaluating
exchange relationships between nations.
- value-added tax (VAT)
- An incremental tax applied to the value added at each stage
of the processing of a raw material or the production and
distribution of a commodity. It is calculated as the difference
between the product value at a given state and the cost of all
materials and services purchased as inputs. The value-added tax
is a form of indirect taxation, and its impact on the ultimate
consumer is the same as that of a sales tax.
- World Bank
- Informal name used to designate a group of three affiliated
international institutions: the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International
Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance
Corporation (IFC). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary
purpose of providing loans to developing countries for productive
projects. The IDA, a legally separate loan fund administered by
the staff of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to
the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than those
of conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements
the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed
specifically to encourage the growth of productive private
enterprises in less developed countries. The president and
certain senior officers of the IBRD hold the same positions in
the IFC. The three institutions are owned by the governments of
the countries that subscribe their capital. To participate in the
World Bank group, member states must first belong to the IMF