Dependency, models of capitalism and the Challenges to Strengthen Economic Development in Latin America

Two points are striking in Latin American political economy trajectories in the 2000s. Firstly, the persistency of structural fragilities in terms of investment, productivity and exportperformance: productivity has been stagnated by decades, investment share of GDP is very low (below 20%) and the exports are very concentrated in commodities (Palma, 2011a). These difficulties have persisted in spite of a decade marked by high economic growth and very favorable international terms of exchange.