New directions in Latin American Structuralism: a three-gap model of sustainable development

Abstract

Sustainable development implies reducing the gap in GDP per capita between center and periphery, increasing equality and protecting the environment. In this paper, we present a simple model within the Structuralist tradition that combines these three dimensions of sustainable development. We define three rates of growth: the minimum required to reduce inequality and eradicate poverty (); the maximum compatible with external equilibrium (); and the maximum compatible with a global carbon budget (). Estimations of these rates of growth for Latin America suggest that . We argue that a combination of industrial and technological policies, along with a major effort at income redistribution, is necessary for having , which defines a sustainable development path.