ABSTRACT
Latin America is undergoing a process of profound economic and social change. The industrial import substitution that continued for several decades was quantitatively successful in terms of industrialization but – like inward-oriented industrialization in the socialist countries – failed to raise the economies of the region to international productivity levels. The attempt at catch-up industrialization outside the reference frame of the world market led to economic stagnation, social crises, serious environmental degradation and the obstruction of social development.
