Latin American Structuralist Ideas about Economic Development.

Sofía

Congreso; European Society for the History of Economic Thought. Anual Conference. 2020; 2020

European Society for the History of Economic Thought

Since the origins of the political economy as an autonomous discipline, and according to the historical context in which they wrote, economists have always raised the issue of economic growth . However, its relevance in economic theories acquired more strength in the second part of the twentieth century. It is clear that the importance of this subject throughout history has varied significantly, but Neoclassics, Marxists, Historicists, Keynesians and almost every economists, regardless the economic school to which they have adhered, has made reference to the problem of growth and development of economies.In particular, in Latin America, the concepts of development and underdevelopment have been very important in the evolution of economic thought. In 1948, the creation of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) emerged within the framework of ?third world? countries´ difficulties to develop their economies. One of its central objectives is to contribute to economic development of Latin America. . ECLAC´s activities encouraged the development of a special theoretical view that is usually known as "Latin American Structuralism", which constitutes a very important contribution to the " Development Economics ."In recent times, Latin America has been experiencing a difficult time for its institutions, its political systems and its economies. The political and economic crises that have erupted show that the region´s problems are far from being resolved. With the specificities of each country, the problems of the slowdown in economic growth, external dependence, structural heterogeneity and increasing inequality, among others, have become relevant issues. Although in some countries have demonstrated relatively "successful" processes, the reappearance of difficulties has been widespread and, for this reason, the debates on economic development models and strategies have become crucial once again.[*National University of Córdoba, - Argentina. Chile, despite having achieved good macroeconomic performance for many years, has seen recent events of social conflict and political questions , which show that inequality is an aspect that cannot be ignored in economic policy design . ]This article begins with a brief description of the historical context in which Latin American Structuralism arises and how it is positioned in relation to the history of economic thought. In the following section, the ideas on economic development of the three most important structuralists of the first years are briefly presented: Prébisch, Furtado and Sunkel. Finally, we offer some final reflections on the issue together with a description of the evolution that their ideas have had.