The book builds on an important emergent body of discussion which questions, both empirically and theoretically, the conventional neoclassical doctrine that economies are more efficient if the state withdraws from it. It develops a “space-time” approach to state theory as a way of explaining development outcomes in the global economy as the latter increasingly shifts to what is referred to as “knowledge capitalism”. It examines two global cases – Finland and China – as expressions of two broad models of successful development punctuated most recently by successful responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also contrasts both cases with the unsuccessful development of Brazil and Argentina toward “knowledge capitalism” and the ramifications of that for their efforts to combat Covid-19. This book will be of interest to academics in economics, politics and international relations.

This book challenges the wide-ranging generalizations that dominate the literature on the impact of export-led growth upon Latin America during the first export era. The contributors to this volume contest conventional approaches, stemming from structuralism and dependency theory, which portray a rather negative view of the impact of nineteenth-century globalization upon Latin America. It has been considered that, as a result of the role of Latin American countries as providers of raw materials produced in enclaves dominated by foreign capital, their participation in the world economy has had adverse consequences for their long-term development. This volume addresses a representative sample of countries with varied initial conditions and resource endowments, a diverse productive specialization, as well as different degrees of integration to the world economy. This allows a direct comparison among the different experiences within the region, which in turn enables a more nuanced understanding of the contribution of exports to economic growth and economic modernization. Seven national case studies are presented – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Bolivia – which offer an insight into the successes of a region traditionally viewed as disadvantaged by globalization and export-led growth. Winner of the Vicens Vives prize for the best economic history book granted by the Spanish Economic History Association.

Of Panamanian nationality, Dr. José E. Torres Ábrego, is a master's degree in Economics on Universidad de la Amistad de los Pueblos (Patricio Lumumba) from Moscow, a doctoral candidate for specialty in Theory of Development and History of Economics of University of Paris, and doctor in Political Sciences of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (U.N.A.M). Among other charges employed in Mexico, he has been professor of the Faculty of Economy of the U.N.A.M. and the Division of Higher Studies of the Faculty of Political Sciences. Since 1983 he is a full professor at the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad de Panama where he teaches the subjects national economic problems, Economic policy, Public finance, Economic fundamentals and social sciences in Latin America, Research methodology, etc. He has been director of the Research and Postgraduate Department of the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad de Panama. In his non-teaching experience, it is important to note that he has been an Expert in Administrative and Financial Matters of the Banco Interamericano de (B.I.D) to advise small and medium enterprises; and advisor trade union organizations and professions. Has delivered and participated in multiple conferences and round tables, and has published countless articles and works in various national and international journals. Among his main works are Population, Economy and Society in Panama (Contribution to the critique of Panamanian historiography), in two volumes, Volume 2 of the Panamanian Culture Library; Editorial Universitaria, 2nd. edition, Panama, 2014; The major challenges posed by the reversal of Canal and its Adjacent Areas to Panama and World Trade; Editorial. edition, Panama, 1999; Contribution to the study of underdevelopment (from monoproduction to modern oligarchy), Editorial Universitaria, 3rd. edition, Panama, 1995. In the process of awareness of the objective reality arise certain concepts through which man fixate and express the proprieties, characteristics and links of the objects and phenomena’s of the outside world. The concepts that reflect the most important aspects, links and or characteristics of a field of phenomena’s constitute its categories. Each science possesses its own categories. In the case of the field of Theory of underdevelopment its categories arise during the first postwar period. After the Second World War, in publications of the United Nations began the utilization of the category underdeveloped to designate the specific-historical reality of the peripheral countries linked to the capitalist system. It was expressed, with this category, the set of properties, characteristics, links and relationships, generally-essential and specific, of the new phenomena that reached in the process of its evolution the point of its full maturity. It was the way, to say it in a different manner, that the thought was taking ownership of this new historical reality. To such a point did society become aware of the underdevelopment that innumerable dependencies arose state, international, academically and university wide by those overseeing the phenomenon.

First published in Chile in 1969 as Interpretación del desarrollo social centroamericano, this classic is now available in English. The first attempt at an integrated analysis of modern Central America's socioeconomic structure, Torres Rivas's work traces the social development of Central America from independence (1871) up to the 1960s. Using a dependency framework, but not limited by it, Torres Rivas describes the various divisions of Central American society and their evolution within the liberal development model that has been so much a part of the past century of Central American economic history. The book is compelling in its explanation of the relationship between foreign and native elements in the social development of the region. Torres Rivas describes and analyzes the resulting long-term problems this development has posed for Central America. With a new chapter added for the English edition, History and Society in Central America remains vital for readers interested in the region.