Introduction

Since 1980, the design and execution of economic policy in Colombia took place in the context of adequate institutional rules and a qualified group of professional economists. These conditions generated a positive environment for economic decision making, for addressing the volatility of the international economy and for strengthening economic rules and institutions. Furthermore, these particular factors facilitated a greater independence from political interests in the adoption of economic decisions.

Based on a qualitative review of the past 40 years, we find that capacity building for sound economic decision making can be attributed to the presence of a technocracy, instrumental in the decision-making process, and to the ability of public institutions to adjust to the changing economic environment by designing new rules without disregarding considerations emerging from the political forces.

To assess this confluence of willingness to implement institutional change and well-trained policy makers, we interviewed six policy makers, mostly economists, who held high-level positions in the public sector and participated in policy decision making from 1980 to 2016. For the purpose of this chapter, we define institutional willingness for economic change as the capacity of public agencies responsible for the design and execution of economic policy to adjust and reform the rules and the organizations responsible for economic management, particularly at the main public agencies: the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and the Central Bank (Banco de la República – BR).

We define technocracy as the group of trained economists with graduate degrees in economics – Master's or PhD – in the policy and decision-making scenarios, something essential for building capacity in the economic policy area. In Colombia, economic decision making shifted from an “illustrated elite of lawyers and engineers” – mainly experts in public finance and coffee sector policy who had the responsibility for the conduction of the economy before 1980 – to this group of professional and highly trained economists with a more comprehensive understanding of economy policy, development and growth, and the capacity to make decisions at relevant public institutions (Álvarez et al, 2019).