Latin America's Economy: Diversity, Trends, and Conflicts

Abstract

Part 1 The economic landscape: diversity regional trends five issues - stalled industrialization and trade policy, debt crises, inflation, poverty and inequality, land reform. Part 2 Historical roots: Spanish colonies a Portuguese colony mercantilism, monoculture, Dutch disease agriculture development independence and entry into the world economy the golden age - 1870-1914 stalled progress - 1914-1930 the 1930s. Part 3 Theories, ideas and opinions: divergent opinions why is Latin America underdeveloped? - a radical view, mainstream interpretations - the big push, foreign aid, export promotion, savings and foreign exchange, human capital, laissez-faire prescriptions. Part 4 From import substitution to trade liberalization: external policies - openness measures, nominal and real exchange rates, Mexican exchange rates, commercial policies import substitutions industrialization - arguments in favour of ISI, volatility of primary commodities prices, declining terms of trade, dynamic nature of resource endowments, infant industry, linkages, elasticity pessimism implementation, consequences and criticisms of ISI - uneven protection, overcapacity, agriculture, budget deficits, interest rates, labour, foreign direct investment the end of the golden years trade reform - common markets? Part 5 Debt: lessons from history - the 1890s and the 1930s crisis, is history repeating itself? the 1980s debt crisis - overvaluation, capital flight solutions to the debt crisis - debt swaps, buybacks, a debt facility, interest relief, the Brady plan. Part 6 Inflation: monetarism versus structuralism five factors in the inflation process - seigniorage, balance of payments crises, dollarization, capacity constraints and supply shocks, indexation and adjustment intervals. Part 7 Stabilization: orthodoxy - political implications of orthodox stabilization, orthodoxy in use - Brazil, Mexico, the neoconservative approach - Chile, Argentina heterodoxy - the Austral, the Cruzado stabilization a la carte - Fujimori, Menem, the Collor plan. Part 8 Economic populism: Peron Garcia, Allende and Ortega, the Sandinistas, Brazil populism, poverty and distribution. Part 9 Poverty: the dimensions of poverty growth, inequality and poverty - Brazil, Colombia, Cuba solutions. Part 10 Agrarian reform: basic issues land reforms in Latin America - Bolivia, Mexico, Peru. Appendices: growth and composition of exports and imports debt rations land distribution.