deficits has been reduced. The exchange rate was unified in December. The Government is taking a gradual approach to fiscal adjustment with deficit reduction targets spaced over time through 2019. In addition, the Government has suggested that normal relations with the IMF will be resumed in the near future, and some economic reports and documents associated with the 2013 financial sector assessment have been released to the public.

On the **_microeconomic_** policy front, the approach can be more gradual, and a number of measures like subsidy reform, would be supportive of the macro framework. One up-front signaling measure could be a change or revocation of the Supply Law. There are also microeconomic links to the macro policies listed above. For example, uncertainty over the true rate of inflation makes it difficult to negotiate labor or other business contracts over time. Trade restrictions affect the exchange rate and monetary policy listed above.

One mechanism is the creation of commissions or other semi-autonomous agencies that can be used to enhance the credibility of the future reform program. In these cases, the government is often delegating some authority for decision-making; however, a democratically elected government cannot transfer democratic “legitimacy” (Majone, 2005). As such, it would be important that any proposed commission establish forums for information sharing, transparency and public debate that offer opportunities for civic engagement to enhance accountability of these commissions. Rules would also need to be clearly established and publicly debated on when the government authority can overrule decisions made by these commissions.

In addition, rules and commissions can still be overturned, captured or abolished by the political system. Legitimacy, in a democratic system, requires acceptance by the general population, as articulated through political institutions. If those institutions are captured by elites or corporatist interests, then these distortions in the political system can undermine the rules-based approach. In addition, commissions do not replace the need for effective citizen engagement to produce policies that are neither too rigid, nor too unstable.

The immediate focus of government reforms has been more on the macroeconomic front – something that this paper advocates. That said, the government has reduced export taxes substantially on major crops and removed them completely from manufacturing goods. The import licensing has been streamlined, and existing license requests have been expedited. Utility subsidies have been reduced via significant price increases, but with the creation of a “social tariff” targeted to low income households.

The government has also taken a number of actions in the social policy realm. In some cases, they involve recognizing past inflation: adjusting the minimum wage and past pension payments, increasing the monthly amount received in unemployment insurance, raising the threshold for businesses to be eligible for the single unified business tax ( _monotributo_ ), and raising the minimum threshold for paying income taxes. There are also proposals put forward to create a basic minimum pension for poor retirees, as well as VAT rebates for retirees and recipients of child subsidies.

The administration submitted a new access to information law, which was recently approved by the lower house of Congress. The recent literature suggests that “(t)ransparency is 34