PERO NO MACK, NADA QUE VER

AM | @agumack

"Là dove è folla di offerenti, non possono esser dure le condizioni dell' offerta" — Ferdinando Galiani

Pero no Mack, una cosa no tiene nada que ver con la otra; además, la idea no está en los libros de texto. Es lo que dicen la mayoría de mis colegas cuando intento explicar el vínculo entre la ausencia de contrapesos institucionales, la corrupción y el alto costo del capital. La oferta de capital se contrae ante el riesgo que la ausencia de independencia judicial supone para la estabilidad de la propiedad. Y quien dice ausencia de independencia judicial dice ... corrupción.

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El silencio de los libros de texto, lejos de debilitar esta idea, la refuerza. Los economistas nos hemos formado con textos escritos para países en los que prevalece una justicia independiente, donde la propiedad se supone estable y segura. Pero vea esta noticia publicada por el Financial Times (*):

Norway’s largest pension fund has blacklisted Petrobras over concerns that the state-controlled oil company at the centre of a Brazilian bribery scandal is prone to further corruption problems beyond its home market. KLP, which oversees NKr553bn ($67bn) of assets, said it would no longer invest in Petrobras due to the “unacceptable risk” of future problems at the company. KLP is the first large investor to publicly blacklist Petrobras since a vast bribery scandal emerged at the company in 2014, costing it at least R$6.2bn ($1.7bn) in corruption-related losses. Separately, the Norwegian oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with $850bn of assets, said in January it was reviewing its holdings in Petrobras because of the continued risk of “severe corruption”.

Jeanett Bergan, head of responsible investment at KLP, which sold its NKr34m of equity and fixed income investments in Petrobras in June, said: “The scale of the case, the size of the amounts involved and the length of time this has been going on are without parallel anywhere in the world.”A spokesperson for the council on ethics said: “Should further cases of gross corruption be revealed in Petrobras’ operations in the future, and the company cannot satisfy that the anti-corruption programme is being complied with and effectively improved, the condition for exclusion may be met.”

Pero no Mack, nada que ver. No, claro que no. Eppur si muove.

(*) Madison Marriage & Joe Leahy: "Nordic pension dumps Petrobras over corruption", Financial Times, 27 de junio de 2016.
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