Introduction

The export pessimism of many Latin American economists in the immediate postwar period, which provided intellectual arguments in support of the inward-looking policies of most of the region's governments, has been replaced by a boom both in trade itself and in policy moves to further liberalize trade. The debate about whether export diversification is important for economic growth has persisted from the beginning of modern development economics, as has the related debate about whether economic growth is more likely to be experienced by exporters of some products than other products. The argument in favor of export diversification on the grounds that diversifying the export portfolio reduces export earnings stability is probably the most widely accepted, as it is independent of either a neoclassical, structuralist, or dependency-school perspective per se. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.