Political economy and economic development in Latin America in the second half of the 20th century

The paper analyzes and compares stages and strategies of economic development in Latin America, focusing on the past fifty years. It contrasts the economic rationales and political economy bases of iport substitution with those of the economic reforms implemented in the last two decades of the 20th century. It concludes that while economically weak and practically faulty, the import substitution strategy had a solid political economy behind it, which made it last. Market reforms, on the contrary, while having a sound economic justification, had weak political economy support. This has led to their limited success and increasing unpopularity in the region in a short period of time. Reforms need a viable political economy leg to rest on. Without it, they are destined to be abandoned.