Latin America revisited The Human Face of Two Success Stories in Economic Development

Abstract

Some people argue that poverty in developing countries is getting worse. Half the people in the world live on less than $1 a day, these people say, and a billion people will go to bed hungry tonight. Nevertheless, according to a recent World Bank report, the number of people living in absolute poverty has fallen by about 200 million in the last 20 years, while in the same period the world’s population has risen by 1.6 billion. That is, more people have been lifted out of poverty in the past 20 years than in any other period in human history (Dollar and Kraay, 2001). Economic development is a long slow process, measured in generations rather than decades. True, it is important always to be aware of how much remains to be done, and to learn from the failures, that we may not repeat them in future. Yet it is important, too, to celebrate and learn from the successes, for this helps to maintain the enthusiasm that is needed to overcome the challenges that lie ahead. It is in this spirit – the spirit of celebrating and learning from the successes – that this brief paper has been written. The paper presents the human face of two success stories in economic development, one in Bolivia, the second in Chile. Both are examples with which I have a personal connection. The reason I am writing the paper now is that I have recently made my first return visit to Latin America in 15 years, so I have been privileged to see at first hand these economic successes and their human dimensions. Economia Vol. XXXV, N° 69, semestre enero-junio 2012, pp. 233-243 / ISSN 0254-4415