ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses different heterodox theoretical models that predict non-convergent regional growth. The conception of a dependent pattern of development of the third world appeared in the years following the Second World War. The foundation of Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) added an extra impulse to a new way of thinking about the questions and challenges that the underdevelopment of the third world posed for economic growth theory. The main purpose behind the founding of ECLA was to bring together different theorists to analyse and interpret underdevelopment in Latin America. This group not only had the objective of creating a "new theory" that could explain the main structural characteristics and their role in the process of underdevelopment in Latin American countries, but also had the aim of formulating positive proposals that would make it possible to overcome the peripheral underdevelopment of those countries. Cardoso develops his theory on a theoretical framework that is similar to that of dos Santos.
