NS4540 Winter Term 2019 Key Questions

Critical Questions I The class will address a number of key questions involving the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies: What is the meaning of economic development and economic growth? How do these two concepts differ? Can we have growth without development? How have the LAC economies performed economically since the mid-twentieth century? Which countries have performed better than the average? Which countries have tended to lag and why? What are economic institutions? How do these institutions shape problems of underdevelopment and prospects for successful development? Nafzinger/Todaro

Critical Questions II What are the sources of national economic growth? Who benefits from such growth and why? What are the most influential theories of development? Which theories seem most applicable to the LAC countries? Is underdevelopment an internally (domestically) or externally (internationally) induced phenomenon?

Critical Questions III What constraints most hold back accelerated growth? What are the causes of extreme poverty, and What policies have been most effective for improving: The lives of the poorest of the poor? The least effective in this regard? Is rapid population growth Threatening the economic progress of the LAC nations? Or Is it stimulating growth through providing a “demographic dividend” Why is there so much unemployment and underemployment in the LAC countries Especially in the cities, and Why do people continue to migrate to the cities from rural areas even when their chances of finding a conventional job are very slim?

Critical Questions IV Do educational systems in the LAC countries really promote economic development? If not, how might they be improved? As there is still a large number of people in rural areas: How can agriculture and rural development best be promoted? Bottom up rural development? Top down governmental infrastructure programs? Encouragement of foreign agro-businesses? Higher agricultural prices together with adequate credit programs? What is meant by “environmentally sustainable development”? Are there serious costs of pursuing sustainable development as opposed to simple output growth?

Critical Questions V Are free markets and privatization the answer to development problems? Or do governments in developing countries still have major roles to play in their economies? Is expanded international trade desirable from the point of view of the development of poor nations? Who gains from trade, and how are the advantages distributed among nations? What has been the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF) “stabilization programs?” and World Bank “structural adjustment” lending On the balance of payments and growth prospects of heavily indebted less developed countries?

Critical Questions V What is the impact of foreign economic aid from external donors? Should some of the poorer LAC countries continue to seek such aid? If so under what conditions and for what purposes? Should developed countries continue to offer such aid, and if so, under what conditions and for what purposes? For the LAC economies, are there any clear combinations of factors that seem to assure economic success for countries on the verge of rapid growth? Why has neo-liberalization and neo-liberal reforms been so controversial in Latin America? What has been the record of this approach? Major successes? Major failures?

Critical Questions VI In examining these issues we will look at many of the conflicts playing out in Latin America Markets vs government control Private property rights vs community needs Efficiency vs social justice, and Centralized technical decision making vs democratic accountability. How have these policy choices and tradeoffs played out over the last thirty years? What do they imply for the future?