ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the history of development efforts in Latin America during the postwar period. In doing so it presents trends, aggregates, and averages. During the 1950s and 1960s, the so-called development decades, massive efforts toward industrial development were expended. For Latin America the 1980s represent the decade of the debt crisis. Its origins date back to the early 1970s when private direct investment into Latin America began to slow. The development process that occurred in Latin America through the 30 years from 1950 to 1980 involved some major structural shifts and important improvements in the quality of life. During the economic crisis of the 1980s, spotty evidence suggests that the distribution is worsening as the bottom of the distribution bears a disproportionate amount of the “adjustment.” The economic crisis of the 1980s is in large part the result of a combination of international factors outside the control of Latin American policymakers.
