Latin American Structuralist Research Articles

Latin American Neostructuralism and Its Differentiation from Latin American Structuralism

Latin American neostructuralism emerged within the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean by 1990. As such, it was aimed at reviewing original Latin American structuralism and updating those contributions to the new phase of global capitalism. Notwithstanding this institutional point of view, this article argues that neostructuralism did not represent an update to Latin American structuralism but rather a differentiation from its critical and original contributions, which relies mainly on the displacement of the center-periphery concept. In the framework of the neoliberal offensive, this change toward capitalism was the result of the greater influence of theories and approaches generated in the center to problematize Latin America’s development, as well as of the requirement to depoliticize the discussion of development. JEL Classification: B2, B5, O1

«Ядро-периферия» и периферийность в региональной науке

The article presents an analytical review of the development of the core-periphery and peripherality concepts in economic theory. The stages of formation of the core-periphery approach are marked by the contributions of the school of Latin American structuralism, theories of polarized development, dependency theory and world-system theory associated with the names of R. Prebisch, J. Friedmann, F. Perroux, S. Furtado, I. Wallerstein. The core-periphery concept has proved to be a useful analytical tool in studies of international trade and economic growth in the world economy. At the same time, uneven structures of distribution of economic activity in space, similar to the core-periphery structure, appear in many models of regional economy, starting with the model of agricultural production location by I. Thunen and ending with the core-periphery model by P. Krugman. These structures emerge without the help of the core-periphery concept, but as a result of the interaction of two fundamental factors – transport costs and economies of scale – and represent various combinations of dispersion and agglomeration. With regional inequality growing worldwide, the combination of the core-periphery approach and basic concepts of regional economics allows us to analyze the complex mechanisms of spatial polarization of economic space. Over time, the periphery has gone beyond the core-periphery dichotomy and developed into an independent category defined, defined by a combination of low accessibility of large markets, low population density and remoteness from decision-making centers. The concept of peripherality allows us to understand the processes of peripheralisation of previously prosperous territories through the interaction of power asymmetry and agglomeration effects

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

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.

The Price (and Costs) of Macroeconomic Stability in Peru: Some Lessons on the Implications of FDI‐driven Growth

ABSTRACTIn the period 2000–2019, Peru enjoyed sustained GDP growth and a long period of macroeconomic stability; as a result, poverty was reduced markedly in comparison to the 1980s and early 1990s, when the country faced severe recessions and hyperinflation. This positive economic performance coincided with the implementation of a mainstream macroeconomic framework which, alongside favourable external conditions, allowed for continuous external financing of current account deficits, mainly through foreign direct investment (FDI). Against the background of current debates regarding the resurgence of debt crises and the advocacy of FDI as a way to avoid such crises, this article uses balance of payments and international investment position statistics to assess whether Peru's acquired macroeconomic stability can be deemed sustainable. Drawing on the contributions of the Latin American structuralist school and more recent analyses that have raised concerns, the article shows that Peru's external position has taken on a Ponzi profile, casting doubt on the idea that FDI is a superior way of external financing compared to external debt. It concludes with a discussion of the social and environmental implications of Peru's widely praised macroeconomic framework, highlighting the limits that peripheral economies face when their growth relies excessively on external financing.

Bringing freedom back to developmentalism: industrialisation as national independence

Abstract Why is developmentalism as an economic school aimed at the industrialisation of peripheral nations? Based on a reading of key authors from both the ‘American System of political economy’ of the 19th century and the Latin American structuralist and dependency schools of the 20th century, this article suggests that the answer lies, not in an economic, but in a political dimension: to ensure the material basis for national freedom. To sustain this hypothesis, the article argues that there is a common implicit conception of freedom shared by Alexander Hamilton, Henry Carey and Friedrich List, on the side of the American school, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Raúl Prebisch, Celso Furtado and Osvaldo Sunkel, from the Latin American school. This conception is heir to the idea of Machiavelli’s Free State, its core is the notion of liberty as non-dependency and collective autonomy and identifies in industrialisation the way for a periphery to be able to live without depending on the arbitrary will of foreign powers. This definition differs from both the liberal and capability conceptions of freedom and allows for the identification of forms of domination that occur between nations and through the global market that requires the peripheries to erect autonomous collective productive capabilities for their overcoming.

BUEN VIVIR IN ECUADOR: HAS THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE BEEN REFLECTED IN STRUCTURAL CHANGE FOR DEVELOPMENT?

This paper aims to investigate the economic dynamics between 2007 and 2017 in Ecuador considering the adoption — as a constitutional principle — of an ecological ideal, which emerged from the indigenous peoples of Latin America: Buen Vivir. The historical process that enshrined this concept made the Ecuadorian experience stand out in the recent history of South America. Economic planning was defined as a fundamental dimension to diversifying the productive structure. However, the dependence on oil extraction represented major obstacles to Buen Vivir, since its funding was based on fiscal policies enabled by resources from a non-sustainable activity. We analyze this process based on a theoretical background from Latin-American structuralism to Buen Vivir, examining the Ecuadorian economic plans and actual dynamics during Rafael Correa's administration, considering the following relevant macroeconomic variables: industrial composition of value-added, exports profile, public investment, foreign direct investment, energetic matrix, and structure of employment. The conclusion is that the evolution of the Ecuadorian economy has not allowed for development strictly according to the parameters of Buen Vivir.

ECLAC: Brazil, Argentina and the Problems and Mistakes in the Latin American Structuralist Economic Theory

ECLAC: Brazil, Argentina and the Problems and Mistakes in the Latin American Structuralist Economic Theory

Теории инфляции: ортодоксальные модификации и гетеродоксальная альтернатива

Amid rising global inflation, traditional monetary policies face challenges, prompting a reevaluation of their theoretical foundations and a surge in interest in alternative perspectives. This article examines recent alterations to conventional inflation concepts, questioning the extent of their significance and exploring the potential of heterodox theories as viable contenders. A literature review highlights that within mainstream economics, emphasis has been on the vitality of the Phillips curve, its accurate specification, and broader adjustments to analytical and forecasting frameworks. While models and techniques have grown more sophisticated, the core idea of inflation as a temporary deviation from long-run equilibrium due to exogenous demand shocks remains unchanged. In contrast, heterodox schools present fundamentally different approaches. Post Keynesianism attributes inflation to supply-side factors and distributional conflicts between workers and firms, with institutional features playing a significant role. Latin-American structuralism emphasizes imbalances in peripheral economies. Both theories develop mathematical models that incorporate production and institutional factors, allowing for a wide range of country-specific inflation trajectories. However, they seem to miss universal regularities to some extent. Evolutionary economics and the long-waves theory conceptualize price dyna­mics as manifestations of non-linear self-organization within a complex economic system, borrowing me­thods from the natural sciences. However, despite its obvious potential, this approach is still in the early phases of development. In summary, heterodox schools are in the process of formulating coherent inflation theories that could potentially replace the mainstream paradigm. If they can achieve theoretical and methodological compatibility, these schools may complement each other, providing a more robust foundation for understanding inflation dynamics.

The Advanced Stage of Industrialisation and the Argentine Pendulum: A Classical-Structuralist Approach

ABSTRACT This article extends the recent revisions to the two-sector model of Latin American structuralism, following the classical tradition approach, to a small economy with an advanced stage of industrialisation. After considering the incorporation of a third sector, which produces capital goods and is controlled by foreign capital, the relationships between distribution and balance of payments are analysed. The extended model enables an analytical formulation of O’Donnell’s ‘Pendulum’, by putting forward various distributive configuration alternatives on the basis of different types of alliances between the classes described therein, as well as by identifying the limitations faced by each coalition.

Varieties of peripheral capitalism: on the institutional foundations of economic backwardness*

This paper critically analyses the literature spawned by Peter Hall and David Soskice’s influential book on the varieties of capitalism. It takes as a starting point the critiques within the comparative political economy literature about the supply-side views on economic growth, and the problems with emphasizing the nature of firm behavior as the source of institutional variety. It argues that demand-led growth, as discussed by Post-Keynesian authors, provides an important alternative to the conventional approach to the explanation of varieties of institutional experience. It suggests that understanding the reasons for institutional variety within capitalism requires incorporating the work of Cambridge Keynesians which recovered the work of Classical political economy authors and extended Keynes’s ideas on effective demand to explain the process of accumulation. It also requires incorporating the ideas of Prebisch and the Latin American Structuralists, who analysed the limits to accumulation in peripheral countries. The paper also discusses the limitations of Neo-Kaleckian models of demand-led growth used by some authors in the comparative political economy literature, and it suggests a new taxonomy for ordering varieties of capitalism.

Divergent Convergence

This article analyzes the economic convergence of the global South with the global North (GS and GN, respectively) as well as the divergence within the GS between Asia and “the rest” (Latin America and Africa). In order to address these processes, the paper is structured in three parts. In the first part, the fundamentals that support this “divergent convergence” are considered in light of two theoretical perspectives: world-systems analysis (WSA) and Latin American Structuralism (LAS). We take into account the analytical tools of these theoretical perspectives and differentiate the historical, systemic, and top-down approach of WSA (focused on the contributions of Wallerstein and Arrighi) from the historical, structural, and bottom-up perspective of LAS. In the second part, we analyze the convergence of the GS with the GN in terms of economic dynamic, economic dynamism, and control of the accumulation process, as well as the divergence within the GS between Asia and “the rest”. We finally argue the possibility and necessity of complementing WSA and LAS approaches in order to explain these simultaneous processes of “divergent convergence” and to reflect on the challenges for the rest of the GS in facing the consolidation of Asian dominance under Chinese leadership.

Tipos y tamaños de Estado en los enfoques económicos posteriores al modelo de competencia perfecta. Panorama general

The objectives of the paper are to identify the types of State that propose the main economic approaches that were designed after the perfect competition model and to make approximations to the size of the identified States. The analysis method is composed of two steps: selection of the key functions that are required for the implementation of economic processes and definition of the degree of State intervention in these functions. The results indicate that the minimum States are diverse and that the planning States are different. Of the approaches that base the coordination of economic processes in the market, the ultra-minimal versions of the State are those designed by the perfect competition model and Pareto welfare economics, while the most extensive exposures are those drawn by development economics, Latin American structuralism and the French approach to regulation with the welfare State, the developmental State, and the wage State, respectively.

Centre–Periphery in the EU-20: a classification based on factor analysis and cluster analysis

Abstract One of the main targets of the European Union (EU) is the achievement of economic convergence among its member states. However, economic and social differences have not been diminishing. Over the past decade, asymmetries have become more obvious and use of the expression ‘European periphery’ has increased significantly. The ambiguity around this term has led to the development of a classification based on the Latin American Structuralist School and Dependency Theory, adapting these approaches to the European economies at present. Through factor analysis, we obtain a rigorous and consistent classification of a representative group of European countries, the EU-20, which allows us to identify the most relevant asymmetries between two clusters: the centre and the periphery. Moreover, analysis over time, examining data from 1995 to 2014, enables us to detect important changes in these classifications as well as the composition of the two clusters.

The Economy Between Pandemics

This article analyzes the economic and social impact of the pandemic in Argentina. It begins with the macroeconomic crisis that the new government had to face in December 2019 and the degrees of freedom available to be able to carry out compensatory fiscal and monetary policies to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. The article also analyzes the impact of these compensatory measures, their limits and results. In particular, it reviews the global impact of the pandemic, the different types of response at the international level and the asymmetry of the global recovery, in addition to evaluating different scenarios and their impact in Argentina and other developing countries. Finally, it also studies the temporary and permanent changes that the pandemic causes at the global level and suggests policy alternatives to avoid external restriction to face the crisis. It does so by laying the foundations for equitable development on the philosophical basis of Latin American structuralism and progressive thought, all within a new paradigmatic framework.

Distribution and Productivity Growth: An Empirical Exercise Applied to Selected Latin American Countries

ABSTRACT The paper investigates whether productivity growth is affected by the rate of growth of income and by that of employment for a representative sample of Latin American countries from the 1980s to the early 2010s. Having post-Kaleckian models as background, the paper empirically assesses the relationship between these variables, which are believed to be behind the underdeveloped trap, low productivity growth, high income concentration and low-income growth. The results show a positive impact of the rate of growth of income over productivity, the so called Kaldor-Verdoorn coefficient. However, the vast majority of the sample, the effect of employment growth on productivity growth was not significant. The latter results are consistent to the interpretation offered by the Latin American Structuralist School, who has long argued that one of the hallmarks of underdetermine is uneven spread of the productivity gains though the economy. This is the framework used to interpret the results.

Незападные теории развития в эпоху глобального капитализма

Received 31.08.2020. This article is devoted to the evolution of non-Western theories of development in the epoch of global capitalism, i. e. after 1990. It describes in detail what is meant by this concept – models of socio-economic development, alternative to the Western neoliberal paradigm and associated with the modernization of non-Western countries, primarily in the “Global South”. Periodization of these approaches is given in connection with the process of decolonization (early 1960s), the end of the bipolar world, and the strengthening of China (since 2010s). Two main directions of such theories – neo-Marxian tradition, as well as post-colonial and anti-colonial studies – are shown. The author concludes that the “non-Westernness” of post-colonial studies is conditional, while anti-colonial and neo-Marxian studies are very much intertwined. The article shows the role of such organizations as CODESRIA and Third World Network in shaping the intellectual development agenda of the Global South. It traces the evolution of neo-Marxist approaches to development of the poorest countries, which originated in Latin American structuralism, American neo-Marxism, the works of J. Galtung and W. Rodney. By the early 1980s, the world-systemic approach was already dominant, its representatives were relatively capable to explain the collapse of the socialist system, and also made attempts to describe the growing influence of China. Nevertheless, the theory of the transnational capitalist class that emerged in the 1990s and 2000s was more successful from this point of view. The article investigates the phenomenon of an emerging confrontation between China and the United States in the ideological field – for the influence on leftist intellectuals around the world, and shows the main resources of both sides in this conflict. Special attention is paid to Postdevelopmentalism that developed in the 1990–2000s in line with postmodernist approaches; both strengths and weaknesses of this concept are presented. In conclusion, the author summarizes that neo-Marxist approaches play a key role as the major alternative to neoliberal capitalist development in the countries of the “Global South” while national modernization theories are lacking in the non-Western countries. Acknowledgements. The article has been prepared at RUDN University and supported by a grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Project no. 19-111-50655 (Expansion) “Non-Western Theories of Development in the Age of Global Capitalism”. The author also expresses his sincere gratitude to P. Bond (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), T.M. Gavristova (YarSU), E.N. Grachikov (RUDN University), Li Yan (CASS, China) and V. G. Shubin (Institute for African Studies, RAS) for their valuable comments.

Dynamics of technology gap between OECD and African countries: A structural estimation

Like other technology gap models, the application of “the Latin American Structuralism” model in OECD & African countries reveals that the technology spillovers due to the technology gap is not as easy task as it was presumed by the mainstream growth theories. Using the per capita GDP gap between the OECD and sample African countries as a proxy for the technology gap, this paper indicates that the technology gap growth rate has been further soaring instead of revealing the normal falling tendency. The finding implies the absence of “automatic catch-up tendency” between the homogenous technology producing countries (OECD) and the heterogeneous technology extracting countries (Africa) and the “weak effort” African countries exerted so far to benefit from the technology gap in the form of spillovers from technology imitation.Among African relative sectoral growth contributions, the relative growth contributions of the agriculture and service sectors negatively affect the technology gap growth rate. However, they cause the equilibrium technology gap to further soar. It suggests the need for structural transformation in Africa. The two-steps difference GMM model is used on a panel of 34 African countries for ten years (2005–2014).

Discontinuous continuity: Structural change and its (divergent) meanings in Latin American structuralism and neo-structuralism

This paper analyses the continuities and discontinuities regarding the concept of structural change in Latin American structuralism and neo-structuralism and considers the global context in which these ideas and their variations are produced. In this sense, the transformations of capitalism from 1950 onwards are taken into account as are the diagnoses and strategies promoted by the ECLAC to ultimately achieve structural change through structuralism and neo-structuralism. How the role of the state is conceived in each of these contexts and the consequences derived from state intervention to promote the structural change are also analysed.

Raúl Prebisch y el pensamiento estructuralista latinoamericano

El presente trabajo aborda el pensamiento de Prebisch y de la escuela estructuralista latinoamericana. Se destaca que mucho de dicho pensamiento, aunque similar a la visión de Keynes para solventar crisis y mantener el nivel de actividad económica, se distingue porque considera una de las restricciones más importantes que una economía en desarrollo por lo general enfrenta: la restricción externa. Es en este sentido que el trabajo intenta rescatar los aportes de dicho pensamiento y señalar su vigencia en la persecución de metas de crecimiento y desarrollo económico.

Latin American Development: What About the State, Conflict and Power?

:Several authors have raised the similarities between Latin American structuralism and economic institutionalism, pointing out the possibilities of reciprocal enrichment between both approaches but highlighting, at the same time, the mutual ignorance between them. However, the eventual interaction between these theories was hampered by the advent of the neoclassical—and neoliberal—offensive, and the displacement of Latin American contributions, both in its structuralist and dependency variants. The replacement of these contributions by the neo-structuralist approach implied a displacement of the characteristics of original structuralism, associated with the conception of central-peripheral economies, and the central role of the state for Latin American development. These displacements, I argue, limited the possibility of finding the means to achieve the so-called social transformation, to which institutionalists and structuralists referred. The present article tries, on the one hand, to critically analyze the neo-structuralist discourse, evaluating how these displacements affect the possibility of proposing a structural transformation in Latin America (led by the state). On the other hand, it seeks to recover the dimensions associated with power, conflict and the centrality of the state to rethink the challenges of structural transformation, from which articulations between structuralism and institutionalism could be proposed.