The Political Economy of Institutional Change and Economic Development in Latin American Economies

Abstract

This inquiry explores crises facing developmental states in Latin America related to their national strategies for economic growth. Some patterns commonly associated with an import substitution strategy are argued to be rooted in structural and institutional variables related to an abundance of natural resources. However, with the demise of national development strategies after the 1980s, external and internal efforts and measures stemming from big business and financial capital challenged the developmental state. During the 1990s countries in Latin and South America followed similar patterns toward financial integration. Failures related to this recent strategy opened space for a new development policy.

The Social Life of Economic Inequalities in Contemporary Latin America

“…This soon spread to most of the continent, and, alongside a crisis-ridden decade of the 1980s, Latin America underwent the most thorough neoliberal transformation in the world (Sader 2011). Countries across the region promoted trade and financial liberalisation, cut the already small welfare entitlements and privatised state assets, whilst firms integrated themselves into low-value-added sections of global value chains (Medeiros 2011). What resulted was an unstable, low-growth model dependent on foreign direct investment, as well as rising unemployment, labour market informality, poverty and inequality.…”

Clientelism and Citizens' Right to the City in the Province of Buenos Aires

“…Each country defaulted on large foreign debts, causing a chain reaction of foreign investors withdrawing financially from other Latin American countries. The rapid withdrawal of foreign investment and subsequent economic crises is known as the "tequila effect" (Budds, 2013;Dello Buono & Lara, 2006;Medeiros, 2011) .…”