In this innovative synthesis and reconstruction of the role of trade in Latin American development, the author asks what have been the political terms of trade in Latin America, and why have they differed so much from the multilateral and national trade politics of the advanced capitalist countries, especially the United States? He shows, in great detail, how a new conceptual approach to this question can help us to understand why, and with what limits, Latin America now seems ready to accept the mantle of free trade. This book is a unique attempt to link some of the most provocative hypotheses from the literatures of international trade, development, regional economic history, and resource management to national politics in Latin America. It takes a fresh look at old academic questions, critiques the received knowledge on trade, and offers some new data, documents, and indexes. To the standard literature on Latin American trade, the author adds insights and information from other literatures - resource conservation, poverty alleviation, and national development strategies, to name a few. The current trend toward looking at constraints and possibilities in the trade system is reshaped to ask familiar questions in a concrete, empirical way. What changes in development design come from external shock, and under what conditions? Does the pressure of the international system actually force Latin American countries to alter their rates and kinds of natural resource exploitation? Can a political course of export promotion address the debt crisis effectively? Are the multilateral trade negotiations a useful format for Latin American trade and development problems? And, finally, can we sayanything with authority about Latin America as a region?

A comprehensive and accessible overview of the economic history of Latin America over the two centuries since Independence. It considers its principal problems and the main policy trends and covers external trade, economic growth, and inequality.

Latin America is looking towards China and Asia -- and China and Asia are looking right back. This is a major shift: for the first time in its history, Latin America can benefit from not one but three major engines of world growth. Until the 1980s ...