Raúl Prebisch and the Keynesian theory in Latin America

The close relationship between the economic analysis of Prebisch and the theory of Keynes is often reported (see Rosenthal 2004: 181). Prebisch himself is often referred to as ‘Keynes of Latin America’. At the same time, both in literature (see Meier 1984: 19; Toye 2005: 138–139; Sunna 2007) and as acknowledged by some development economists, such as William Arthur Lewis in the famous essay of 1954, ¹ the Keynesian theoretical framework is not considered sufficient to address the problems faced by underdeveloped countries in the aftermath of the Second World War. Prebisch himself, from the end of the 1940s, admits that Keynes’s theory does not question the neoclassical structure and, thereafter, gradually became increasingly critical toward the Keynesian assumptions, resulting in the development of his own original theoretical contribution.