This essay suggests that there is a body of Latin Americanstructuralist economic theory which possesses distinctive characteristicswhile having a family resemblance to other institutionalist schools ofthought, and which is based on an original approach to economic value.The founders of structuralism conceived a systemic, multidimensional anddynamic approach. They applied it to the study of improvements in, and thesocial distribution of, labour productivity generated in the central economiesand the effects of these on the societies of the periphery. This outlookchallenges the notion of markets …
En este ensayo se sugiere que existe una teoría económicaestructuralista latinoamericana dotada de rasgos propios, emparentadacon otras corrientes institucionalistas y basada en una visión originaldel valor económico. Los fundadores del estructuralismo concibieron unenfoque sistémico, multidimensional y dinámico. Lo aplicaron al estudiode los incrementos y la distribución social de la productividad laboralgenerada en las sociedades centrales y a sus efectos en las sociedadesperiféricas. Esta perspectiva cuestiona la noción de mercados que seautorregulan y retornan a posiciones de equilibrio es…
En este ensayo se sostiene que si bien se ha superado la iliquideztotal que caracterizó la fase más severa de la crisis financiera desatadaen septiembre de 2008, el crédito y la actividad productiva de los paísesindustrializados se están contrayendo aceleradamente y el sistemafinanciero sigue descapitalizado. De los canales externos de transmisiónde la crisis hacia América Latina, la disminución de las remesas es elmenos importante. Los efectos negativos más generalizados serán lacaída del volumen de comercio internacional y el marcado deterioro delos términos de intercambio de los productos b…
La economía global se caracteriza por la intensidad del cambiotecnológico y el surgimiento de competidores poderosos como Chinay los demás países BRIC, lo que se ha traducido en drásticos cambiosen la competitividad y una tendencia a estructurar la producción entorno a cadenas mundiales de valor. En ese contexto, se han reactivadolas amenazas tradicionales de proteccionismo y han aparecido otrasvinculadas a las nuevas exigencias en materia de seguridad, las normasprivadas de calidad, las buenas prácticas y el cambio climático. Setrata de ámbitos inherentes a la nueva competitividad, pero que s…
Este artículo plantea que en un régimen macroeconómico detipo de cambio real competitivo y estable (tcrce); el componentecambiario puede fomentar la inflación con los mismos mecanismos queestimulan altas tasas de crecimiento del producto interno bruto y delempleo; la presión tendrá que compensarse controlando la demandaagregada a través de las políticas fiscal y monetaria. Encuentra quela política monetaria en un régimen cambiario de ese tipo tiene ungrado de autonomía que puede ser utilizado para aplicar políticasmonetarias activas. Analiza hasta qué punto la política monetaria puedecontribui…
En este artículo se analizan los cambios en la estructura ycompetitividad de la industria de bienes de capital brasileña desdecomienzos de los años 1990 y se propone una clasificación dentrode esta industria basada en los diversos segmentos industriales quedemandan máquinas y equipos. Aunque esta industria sigue pesandobastante en el valor agregado del sector manufacturero, la eficienciaproductiva y la competitividad internacional de los segmentos quela componen son bastante heterogéneas. El artículo destaca lossegmentos con mayor potencial de desarrollo y sugiere para cadauno de ellos medidas…
This article argues that in a stable and competitive real exchangerate(SCRER); macroeconomic regime, the exchange-rate component candrive up inflation through the very mechanisms that stimulate high rates ofgross domestic product and employment growth; to offset this pressure,fiscal and monetary policies will have to be used to control aggregatedemand. It finds that in an exchange-rate regime of this type, monetarypolicy has a degree of autonomy that can be exploited to apply activemonetary policies. It analyses the degree to which monetary policy canbe used to control aggregate demand and con…
This article analyses changes in the structure and competitiveness ofthe Brazilian capital goods industry since the early 1990s and proposes aclassification within that industry based on the different industrial segmentsfrom which the demand for machinery and equipment derives. Althoughthis industry still accounts for a large share of manufacturing sector valueadded, the production efficiency and international competitiveness of thesegments it comprises are quite heterogeneous. The article singles out thesegments with the greatest development potential and suggests measuresthat could be taken …
This essay argues that while the complete lack of liquiditycharacterizing the most severe phase of the financial crisis unleashedin September 2008 is now a thing of the past, lending and productionactivity in the industrialized countries are both contracting rapidly andthe financial system is still undercapitalized. Of all the external channelsthrough which the crisis has been transmitted to Latin America, the dropin remittances is the least important. The most widespread negative effectswill come from the decline in the volume of international trade and thesharp deterioration in the terms of …
The combination of profound technological change and theemergence of powerful competitors such as China and the other briccountries has led to dramatic shifts in competitiveness and a tendencyfor production to be structured around global value chains. Against thisbackground, traditional protectionist threats have reappeared and othershave arisen in connection with new security requirements, private-sectorquality standards, good practices and climate change. These issues areintegral to the new competitive environment but could turn into protectionistbarriers in the absence of the right multilat…
This paper develops and tests a model of growth that emphasizesthe introduction of new exports as the main source of growth in countriesthat are well within the global technology frontier and depend for growthon adapting existing products to their economic environment. It seeks tocapture the stylized facts behind growth in countries as different as theRepublic of Korea, Taiwan Province of China, Mauritius, Finland, Chinaand Chile, all of which have relied on export diversification. The wideningof comparative advantage is thus seen as the main driver of economicgrowth. The export diversificatio…
This article examines the effect of training on competitiveness inthe manufacturing sector, drawing a distinction between industries withdiffering technological and productive characteristics. Using a systemicapproach, it studies activities within firms and the impact that traininghas on them, as well as the organizational and institutional environmentthat supports training and the effect of the latter on the locality as awhole. An analysis is performed at two levels. At the firm level (microanalysis);, econometric tools are used to study the manufacturing sectorin Mexico. At the regional leve…
This paper examines the role of structural change as a source of
economic growth and institutional and technological change. With the
creation of new activities in the economy, significant changes occur in
institutions and in the way domestic production capabilities are organized,
which alters the ultimate sources of growth in society. This is a complex
process that involves ubiquitous externalities and new forms of clustering
and direct interdependence between economic agents that the language
of modern growth theory cannot fully capture. Neoclassical growth models
construe economic growth in…
Este trabajo examina el papel del cambio estructural como fuente
del crecimiento económico y del desarrollo institucional y tecnológico.
Con la creación de nuevas actividades, la capacidad de organización
productiva local y las instituciones experimentan cambios significativos,
que alteran las fuentes esenciales de crecimiento de la sociedad. Se
trata de un proceso complejo que entraña externalidades de todo tipo y
nuevas formas de aglomeración e interdependencia directa entre
actores económicos, que no puede comprenderse a cabalidad en el
lenguaje de la teoría moderna del crecimiento. En los …
This article examines some theoretical approaches in support of
industrial policy in Brazil, with special emphasis on the neo-Schumpeterian/evolutionary approach. This approach is applied to the analysis of some satisfactory experiences in the field of industrial policy and economic development in Brazil up to the end of the 1970s, and some unsuccessful attempts in this field from the 1980s on. Lastly, it
evaluates the industrial policy applied by the government in the 2003-
2006 period, noting that, in spite of some positive aspects -the emphasis
on innovation, clear goals and a new instituti…
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