Análisis de la dolarización en la economía ecuatoriana

Abstract

Abstract: The adoption of the U.S. dollar as a currency in Ecuador marks a turning point in Latin American history. At a time of extreme financial turbulence in the late 1990s, dollarization was implemented as a last resort, allowing the country to overcome serious economic and social problems. Since then, Ecuador has experienced some stability without detaching itself from its geopolitical condition. This study aims to examine the effects of dollarization from its implementation to the present, identifying the factors that led to this decision, analyzing how it has influenced the main macroeconomic variables, and evaluating its impact on Ecuadorian citizens. It has been observed that the drastic devaluation of the sucre, combined with the banking crisis and the government's economic difficulties, drove dollarization. For the first 10 years, GDP experienced significant growth, but since 2011 it has been more moderate. Interest rates have fallen and become less volatile, while poverty and the Gini coefficient have declined during the two decades of dollarization, yet asymmetric conditions only evidence vague economic instability.