Progress, Poverty and Exclusion: An Economic History of Latin America in the 20th Century

by Rosemary Thorp

What did the Latin American economies achieve in the course of a hundred years? Per capita income increased fivefold, yet today it is lower in proportion to the industrial countries than it was a century ago. Modern infrastructure was built and industry grew to 20 percent of GDP, but the region's share of world trade was halved. Social indicators such as life expectancy and literacy improved dramatically, but inequity and poverty worsened. This comprehensive economic history examines the political, institutional and economic forces that shaped Latin America's complex and often paradoxical development process over the twentieth century. By examining quantitative data alongside the region's political economies, the book provides historical context for the development strategies, choices, successes, and failures of the Latin American countries. Commissioned by IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias, the book draws on studies and consultancies prepared by a number of specialists on Latin America. A comprehensive Statistical Appendix provides regionwide and country-by-country data in such areas as GDP, manufacturing, sector productivity, prices, trade, income distribution, and living standards. Moving chronologically through the century, the book focuses on two dramatic waves of expansion that shaped regional first, an export boom as the century began, and second, import-substitution industrialization corresponding to renewed expansion of the international economy following the Depression and the two World Wars. Following the debt crisis of the 1980s, Latin America at century's end has returned to where it began, with reliance on the free market and export-led growth. However, the book outlines the changes in economic structures and approaches that make today's economic scenario radically different from the old.

Genres: History

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 1998

About the author

Rosemary Thorp was Reader in the Economics of Latin America and is an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College.

Reviews

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contar la historía económica de la región no es una tarea fácil, no obstante, Rosemary Thorp hace un gran trabajo al explicar de forma sencilla los principales sucesos en las economías latinoamericanas durante el siglo XX. Sus éxitos y fracasos, sus periodos de alto crecimiento y sus periodos de crisis.

Cualquiera que este interesado en entender porque nuestras economías son hoy de la manera que son puede encontrar el libro muy interesante, es una lectura que sirve para contrarrestar los mitos que existen sobre algunos de los aciertos y algunos de los errores en el manejo económico y para conocer que tenían en común algunas economías de la región sus diferencias en el proceso de industrialización.

[Allen Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book with lots of information, readable by noneconomists but kind of dense. Not very much information on Central America unfortunately